Mongrel of the Fiends
by wulfiesacolyte
Summary: A/U (oh don't you dread that expression now?) set in medieval England and France. Iun-yasha becomes the king of England. Sesshoumaru becomes the king of France/Normandy. Strong fantasy elements. Kik/Inu/Kag; Sesh/undetermined. Please check it out!
1. A Tale of Two Cities

Okay, remember that whole William the Conqueror versus Harold of Normandy? No? Well, it's this thing in history that happened a long time ago in the 1100th century. Basically I'm going to rewrite the entire event.  
  
This is a very complicated idea. I have no idea how I'm going to make it fit. However, I'm going to try. Please bear with me and tell me what you think of my valiant efforts.  
  
Oh, and by the way, don't worry. Inu-yasha isn't human.  
  
*whew* here I go...  
  
Disclaimer: Inu-yasha © Rumiko Takahashi. William the Conqueror, Harold, Normandy, and all that other stuff © Clio, Muse of History. The insanity of this A/U idea and all that entails © me. No, keep the men in white jackets away from me...  
  
*---*  
  
The message came while he was lying in bed.  
  
"Prince Harold!" The pounding on the door startled Inu-yasha awake, and he blinked before turning his face away from the window in distress. Heedlessly the light continued to flood through, alarming his senses painfully until he finally rubbed at his eyes and sat up. The swift movement caused him a moment of nausea but he recovered hastily, struggling under the heavy sheets before rising, nude and drowsy with interrupted rest.  
  
"Prince Harold! Prince Harold! Your father-" the voice on the other side of the door faltered, sounding almost as if whoever spoke was near the point of tears. Inu-yasha shook his head and yawned, then grabbed a robe from the side of a chair and drew it over his body.  
  
"What is it?" The door creaked loudly as Inu-yasha unlocked it and pulled it open, sending poisoned spikes of pain into his brain as his headache worsened. Wincing, Inu-yasha looked on, unamused to find the eager-to- please but ever-so-annoying servant Alfred waiting on the other side, red- faced and out of breath.  
  
"Prince Harold!" Alfred cried yet again upon seeing him. "We've just received word from the castle in London! Your father-there was a tragic accident during a hunting trip, and-Prince Harold, you father is dead!"  
  
A strange wash of numbness filled Inu-yasha just as his veins ran cold. "Dead?" the young man echoed in an apathetic tone. The balding, red-haired servant nodded eagerly and clutched his hands to his breast, but Inu-yasha was already looking past him, his eyes vague as he seemed to stare through the stone walls of the castle. "What does that mean? What will be come of me?"  
  
"Well, you see, milord, therein lies the...ah...problem. Your father, God rest his soul, never completed his, ah, a, ah, ...his will." Swallowing hard, Alfred raised his obsequious eyes, staring at Inu-yasha as if he expected to find himself headless at any moment. He gasped when Inu-yasha suddenly pushed him aside and stepped forward, looking down either side of the hall then starting towards the staircase leading down. Alfred looked after helplessly, his mind vying between dutifully serving his master and preserving his own pitiful life. It hardly mattered; by the time he came to a decision, Inu-yasha was already halfway down the stairs, the soft, determined sounds of his footsteps trailing after him.  
  
"L...Lord Harold?" Alfred ventured, following slowly with a series of nervous crab-steps. Suddenly Inu-yasha whirled around and let out a sound directly akin to a dog's bark. Alfred emitted a tiny squeak and fell back, effectively rendered immobile for at least a few seconds. Satisfied, Inu- yasha turned heel and began his descent once more.  
  
Even as the sides of the staircase widened and became another hallway, Inu- yasha found himself walking blindly, so lost in his thoughts that he could do little more than grunt when a maid unexpectedly burst out of a door and bumped into his shoulder. The maid showered him with apologies but Inu- yasha only nodded, his gesture barely more than a slight inclination of the head, and his pace never slowed. The maid left, or simply ceased to stop mattering, as Inu-yasha's gaze wandered, and he stared upon the plaque bearing an elaborately carved coat of arms, hanging upon the wall just above the farthest doorway. Inu-yasha's steps slowed, his eyes following the familiar curve of the fur and fangs, as the giant white dog fought with the gray serpent and formed the crest of his family.  
  
To all else it was a symbol of power and nobility, but to he who had grown up with it, it was a pretty picture, a toy. It was merely luck that had made him the child of the late king Edward the Confessor, or Hanyou, as the demons knew him. But of course very few of the demon kin were left...even fewer true in bloodline. Inu-yasha himself was a bastard, the unnatural product of the forbidden union of a demon and a human. Still, he was graced with the powers and long life span of the demon, while retaining the features and personality of a mortal. There was far more to his lineage than he cared to think about or, indeed, even knew; his mother had died when he was still but a child and his father had never told him more other than that he was inhuman but should not look down upon humans because of it.  
  
Feh. Idiot Hanyou. Inu-yasha had never had much use for the preachy, overly religious yet hypocritical demon posing as a human. It was an age-old practice among the Fae-kind to usurp a powerful human position while leaving none the wiser, and it certainly beat trying to eek out an existence in the wilds fighting both humans and each other. Still, Inu- yasha wondered what it was like to live in such a perilous but exciting environment; certainly it must be less boring than year after year spent in the comfort and total monotony of the castle built specifically by his father to house his 'weaker' second son until possible ascension into kinghood.  
  
But none of that mattered now. Hanyou, or Edward, was dead. The king of both England and Normandy was no more.  
  
So where did that leave Inu-yasha, his second-born son?  
  
---  
  
The light feathers flashed their whiteness as the edges of the cloak fluttered beside his ankles; Sesshoumaru turned in the mirror, staring at his reflection with a casualness that would almost seem bored, if not for his vigilant attention to detail.  
  
"No. The gold material is more appealing. This green is most bilious."  
  
"A-At once, Lord Sesshoumaru!" a small, ugly man shrieked, fervently leaning his staff against the bedstead and lifting his sickly thin arms to take the cloak as Sesshoumaru doffed it. Jaken was utterly devout in keeping the pale forest green material from touching the ground at any one point. He was just folding it into a neat pile when Sesshoumaru whipped around and started towards the armoire, reaching forward and touching his chin in the mirror with a critical glare.  
  
"The humans will be expecting me to make another supposed trip to the barber soon. Jaken, remember to bribe the bartender into saying he already serviced me. If he seems to be acting unusual," the man turned, his black hair remaining close to his body as he shifted his gaze to just above Jaken's head, "kill him."  
  
"Yes, Lord Sesshoumaru." Jaken set the cloak on a chair and took up his staff, looking at Sesshoumaru a moment before backing towards the door. "Shall I go now?"  
  
"No." He turned, again looking to the mirror then brushing a single misplaced shank of hair from his eyes. "Fetch me a courier. I have a message for Her Royal Wench Queen Isabella that I want to relate to Spain."  
  
"At once," Jaken breathed, bowing once before disappearing through the doorway and leaving Sesshoumaru to his own devices.  
  
Less than three breaths later, Jaken reappeared, his face a strange shade of near-lavender. "Lord Sesshoumaru, the courier is already-"  
  
"Please, Lord William!" Though he kept his expression neutral, Sesshoumaru looked down in surprise as an exhausted figure fell through the open door and landed on the hard floor heavily, the thin red carpet doing little to cushion his fall. "Pl-please...please give me audience..." He stepped back when the boy started crawling towards him, carefully keeping the disgust from his voice though he almost couldn't keep it from his expression.  
  
"Who sent you?" Sesshoumaru demanded, immediately recognizing the courier's trade by the embroidered heraldic insignia on his vestment. The insignia seemed strangely familiar, yet Sesshoumaru could not quite place it; perhaps it was someone from a neighboring city-state. Stranger things had happened of late.  
  
"M-Master Harold, Lord. He says...your father is de...dea..."  
  
"Dead, yes, I know," Sesshoumaru snapped, his patience straining. The courier looked at him in surprise, but immediately remembered his duty and continued.  
  
"Lord Harold demands that you...muh...meet him in the royal castle in London for a confrenc-" The envoy choked to a halt, staring up at Sesshoumaru in utter perplexity as the prince pushed downward with his foot into the unfortunate boy's back. Seshoumaru's hand was closing around the hilt of the short sword he wore at his hip when he paused, seeming more preoccupied with wondering what limb to cut off first than worrying over internal moral dilemmas.  
  
"Lord Sesshoumaru!" Jaken screeched, coming forward and lowering his staff in alarm. "Humans don't kill their couriers in this age! You will make your subjects suspicious if you murder this one!"  
  
"Hmm." Sesshoumaru's weight grew lighter only slightly, his hand still on his sword as if the feel of the leather pressed into his cold flesh brought him comfort. "Perhaps you are right, Jaken." He stepped away and let the messenger rise, watching the boy's fearful eyes dart back and forth as he waited a moment then forced himself into a stand. Sesshoumaru's lips quirked faintly and he tapped the boy's shoulder, causing the lad to wince and close his eyes in pained anticipation. At last the boy's lids creaked open and he stared at the prince and unofficial lord of France as if quite convinced William were completely insane. Sesshoumaru smirked again then gave the boy a rough shove towards the doorway.  
  
"Go tell my pathetic brother that I will meet him in London one month from next Sunday," Sesshoumaru instructed, standing behind as the boy struggled to rise again. "And be sure to remind him of the many favors he owes me for preserving his status thus far." Sesshoumaru smiled one final time, sending a visible tremor up and down the lad's spine as he nodded wildly and bowed before taking off in a dead run down the hall. "And Jaken," Sesshoumaru noted, startling his companion out of his self-satisfied chuckle at the boy's humiliation.  
  
Jaken looked on, his expression fairly apprehensive. "Yes, milord?"  
  
The carpet *shshffed* as Jaken skidded along it, finally coming to rest a number of feet into the room. Jaken blinked and grabbed at the spinning ground, his head throbbing even as the imprint of the heel of Sesshoumaru's stylish boot glowed red on his throat. "M...Master..."  
  
"Don't ever call me by my real name in front of a human ever again. Is that understood?"  
  
"Yes, Lord Sesshoumaru," Jaken whispered in a noisome squeak, his eyes wide with surprise and hurt.  
  
"Hmm." Sesshoumaru kicked absently at the folds in the carpet, staring at the back of his hand thoughtfully a moment before speaking. "I think I shall go with the forest green after all. That impetuous duke doesn't deserve to see me in my best." He turned, leaving Jaken alone and crumpled against the armoire. "Bring me my cloak downstairs. And don't forget to bribe the barber tonight. You know what to do if he is less than compliant."  
  
"Yes, Lord Sesshoumaru," the little man repeated, his tone slightly steadier. "But, Lord Sesshoumaru, what of the meeting with your brother? Shouldn't we-"  
  
"I will attend to that matter in good time. Do not worry, Jaken," Sesshoumaru admonished with a curious smile. "The fledgling merely wishes to stretch its wings. It will fall from the nest soon enough." With that, he turned once more and left the room.  
  
Jaken watched after with round eyes. *Such hatred for his brother...* he mused, feeling his sore throat with a tenderly placed finger. *Sesshoumaru truly is a ruthless leader. And now that his father is dead, there is nothing left to keep him from ruling the countries.*  
  
And maybe more, Jaken realized with a start. Sesshoumaru was not the type to content himself with the rule of just one territory. He would most likely go after all of Europe, perhaps even the vast steppes of Russia. Any who opposed him would be crushed easily; Sesshoumaru was, after all, no mere mortal. He was the firstborn son of the God of the West, and though his father's powers had waned in old age, Sesshoumaru's blood remained strong. After Sesshoumaru's reign, Alexander the Great would look like a child in the gladiatorial arena.  
  
Nothing could stop Sesshoumaru now.  
  
*---*  
  
Well, what do you think? Is it confusing? Sorry, I tried to make it as clear as possible...there will be plenty of plot exposition later, though, of course. Oh, and don't worry, Kagome and Kikyo and everyone else are in it, probably even Kouga and the less-often-featured chars, and of course Naraku. That all comes later, though.  
  
I still haven't decided whether Kagome is from the future or just a far away place. Probably the future, probably brought there accidentally by a divination spell gone wrong. I will figure it out later. Tired :p  
  
There should be lots of magic in this story later on, but I hate the so- called explanation of anything being "because it's magic", so I'll probably rationalize everything until it seems almost like science...sorry, 'tis a habit of mine.  
  
Anyway. Please read and review. This style of writing is more akin to mine than what I use in "I Ain't A Crossdresser", my other literary Inu-yasha fanfic. I've always loved Ye Olde England stories, and writing them is so much fun, as long as I have an interesting plot :p  
  
Considering the roughness of my idea, I'd welcome any suggestions, if any of you have them. You can either write a comment or email me at wulfiesacolyte@yahoo.com, it doesn't really matter, I check both with about the same alacrity.  
  
Anyway. Enough chattering. Review! 


	2. Turn Your Face To The Moonlight

I already wrote the chapter before I wrote this thing, so this is kind of pointless...oh well...guess I'll talk about other stuff... I got a new Dragon Knights book today, number 5. Now I have 1-5 and 7-8. Kind of an odd order, but I get whatever I can. I love Dragon Knights! Yay Mineko Ohkami! Yay Rumiko Takahashi! Yayyy!! I'm going to the comic-con in San Diego (where I live) next weekend as a battlemage. Anyone else going? Tell me and I'll look for you! I'll be the tall chick in the green cloak and beige medieval dress, slavering over Inu- yasha dolls *wink*  
  
Well...I'm quite pleased with this chapter...so, without further ado (oh that's so cliché...), onward:  
  
Disclaimer: Inu-yasha, badass and wonderfully cool as he is, does not unfortunately belong to me. He belongs to the manga-ka Rumiko Takahashi, as do his brother Sesshoumaru and his father Hanyou. The idea of this fic, though, well...it's all me, baby :p  
  
*---*  
  
The kobold's skin gave off a small "spluch!" sound as the nail punctured through, leaving a black indentation that grew darker as the vile creature's faded grey-green blood seeped throughout. Inu-yasha swung again, this time raking his claws just under the kobold's right eye, and the kobold screeched as it suddenly found itself noseless. His hand was around its throat before it could even finish screaming, and in a matter of seconds, the kobold was dead, its throat rendered holey as a cheese grater. The young man stepped back, flicking blood off his hands with an irritated shudder and turned round, traipsing away from the scene with a decidedly fastidious air.  
  
"That should teach you gutless monstrosities to stay away from her grave," Inu-yasha growled in a voice thick as spoiled meat. "And tell your worthless compatriots to disappear out of my forest before I kill them as well!" The object of his rantings, the sole survivor of his massacre, fled the area in a bloody, armless haze. He couldn't leave any one of them untouched; it simply wasn't in his character. Even the hostage he had to mutilate, simply for being there, simply for getting near the grave, *her* grave. The fact that they were creatures of the Fae world meant nothing to him. Anything, Fae or mortal, was forbidden from his shrine, so help him Goddess.  
  
A loud crunching on the ground caused Inu-yasha to whirl about, his lip curled and his claws at the ready. After a few moments of tense but disoriented scant looks about the area, he located the encroacher: a small, amazingly fearless sparrow had ventured into the clearing and started pecking at the exposed tongue of a dead kobold. The bird apparently found the meat not to its liking, for in a sudden flash of brown and white, the sparrow took to the air and left Inu-yasha to his own devices. The man watched after with a strange mix of aggravation and longing, his eyes trailing after the bird until it disappeared among the forest foliage.  
  
All the kobolds except for one where dead; peace had been restored to the dell. Inu-yasha took a moment to drag the corpses away and throw them unceremoniously into the bushes, then returned to the large, misshapen boulder that rested in the very center of the oblong clearing. His feet came to a pause and he stood staring, his eyes beginning to show the smallest allusion to wetness. After a moment, he gave a deep sigh and bowed twice, first curtly and with almost no emotion, then slowly, languidly, yet somehow pain-infused.  
  
"I will return tomorrow, as usual. Goddess be with you, my love." The dead patches of grass crumbled noisily as he strode past.  
  
...  
  
The time was approaching again. Inu-yasha could feel it eating away at his skin from the inside; the thought of it always made him sick to his stomach, and more than just a little afraid of what he might do. He was always unpredictable when it happened, and he had no idea how to stop it once it came. He barely even remembered the events that occurred each time; maybe it was his brain's way of keeping him from committing suicide out of shame.  
  
Still, he couldn't just pretend nothing would happen until it finally did. He had to make the proper preparations, which he had had to learn all by himself after much trial and error. His father and siblings were no help; as full demons, they had no such problem. But for Inu-yasha, it was worse even than a female's menstrual cycle; at least that was his opinion.  
  
"Alfred," Inu-yasha barked impatiently, startling the servant out of his reverie by the doorway. The unappreciated underling regathered his wits and came forward, bowing quickly before sending his master an inquiring look.  
  
"Alfred," Inu-yasha repeated. "Get me a bath. I'm going to lock the door tonight. Don't try anything funny this time, all right? I was not amused when you sent the stable hand's son through my window to check on me," he announced with a discouraging growl. Indeed he *had* not been amused: luckily his cycle had been nearly over when the boy had approached, and Inu- yasha had rid himself of the bothersome lad with a mere insane baying from the darkness of the room's corners. Sure it had scared the shit out of the little scamp, but the boy had been suitably frightened into leaving. Whether the townsfolk spoke of Inu-yasha as a possessed agent of Mephistopheles or the most benign of saintly leaders hardly mattered to him, as long as they stayed loyal. Of course his utterly apathetic brother Sesshoumaru was far more meticulous at keeping his demonic heritage in secret, but then, everything Sesshoumaru did seemed to be for a higher purpose. No. Inu-yasha shook his head suddenly, violently, startling his servant. He would squander no more time thinking of that abhorred waste of demonic flesh.  
  
"Yes, Master Inu-yasha. At once." Alfred bowed with a diluted flash of red and exited the room, hesitant to be around his lord when Inu-yasha was in one of his 'moods'. Actually, Alfred was the most tolerant of his servants, having served the family devoutly for two generations. Most, if not all, of the other servants were afraid of Inu-yasha, some to the point of hiding when they heard his voice draw near.  
  
It used to irritate Inu-yasha, but now it amused him, now that he knew why: Inu-yasha was notorious for his temperament and it was rumored that he would kill his servants without a second thought, if they caught him at just the wrong moment. The rumor was absurd, of course; Inu-yasha had no extra fondness for mortals, but he new how indispensable they were in regards to keeping up the castle, and he had no taste for their flesh, besides. Still, he refused to actively put forth an effort in stopping the rumors, as long as they didn't affect his subjects' loyalty.  
  
Inu-yasha leaned against his bedside and relinquished into its softness with a sigh. What a bother mortals were, so obsessed with appearances and proprieties. The world would be a much more peaceful place if all of them should happen to mysteriously die out. Peaceful, but boring as all nine hells mixed into one. It would be an ideal situation for his brother, who hated humans and their kin with a passion unlike any Inu-yasha had ever experienced, but-no. No more talk of Sesshoumaru. Inu-yasha would deal with him when he had to, in one week's time. Until then, Inu-yasha had other problems to deal with.  
  
...  
  
The changes began as soon as the last of the sun's light faded into the blue-tinted, slightly iridescent glow of the incoming moon. First went his eyes, the deep, rich amber crawling away from the edges and on unto itself, then disappearing in a wash of black and red. Then came the tips of his hair, fading from the artificial crow-black of his human guise to the white of his normal form, then immediately after into a deep, oddly solid silver that positively glittered with life and electricity. As it changed color, it shortened, and spread about his body, catching like wildfire as it thickened along his back and limbs.  
  
Inu-yasha resisted a cry of disgust as his jaw popped and disjointed itself, the canines pushing into the flesh of his gum for several moments until his jaw became larger and widened into a set of jowls made for ripping limbs off and rendering flesh with a single bite. The ground was suddenly a close neighbor as Inu-yasha fell hands-first into the carpet, landing on his chest with an uncomfortable "oomf!" His spine cracked and sent waves of strange, distant pain to his skull as it curved and forged itself into the spine of a quadruped. At last what remained of his lips parted and he let out a low, desperate sound not unlike a whimper, just as his intestines rearranged themselves and became those of a canine.  
  
Finally, after only a few minutes short of an hour, the transformation was finished, and Inu-yasha forced himself off the ground with an unsteady lurch as his new body felt odd to his human-conditioned muscle structure. Inu-yasha whimpered again and crawled onto the bed, laying down with a heartfelt groan and pulling his limbs to him. His dark red eyes felt sore, overused, as his vision attempted to straighten itself. The rays of moonlight did not illuminate his room this night; the lack of its radiance shone even more piercing as Inu-yasha's eyes flickered about involuntarily and saw only black. The itchings of a howl prickled in his throat, but Inu- yasha resisted; no need to alarm the villagers. He would just have to suffer it in silence.  
  
It wasn't fair for him to have to deal with this alone. It wasn't his fault he was the bastard son of a demon and a human. It wasn't his fault that for one day and night, during each new moon, he was forced to lose all semblance of humanity and sink into the wild rapacity of his demonic heritage. Sesshoumaru and his father had this form, but they had always had this form, and knew how to deal with the emotions and needs that came with it. Their morphings were voluntary. His were not.  
  
It wasn't his fault he was forced each cycle to become a dire dog.  
  
...  
  
She was black and white and sweetness. Sweetness wasn't a color, but that didn't seem to matter; she was as inseparable with her character as she was with her physical description. She was the sweetest, kindest and most loving of humans, and oh, how he loved her. It was because of her that he had begun to appear before humans with other than foul intent; before he had fallen for her, he either attacked or fled all humans, finding no other purpose to their existence then as prey or threats. It was she who had tamed him, made him the loving, simpering fool that didn't even mind when he was neglected for his oddness, avoided for his strangeness and his tendency towards violence. It was she who had saved him, both from his demise at the hands of others and his own self-destruction; had she come even a year later, he would most likely have already killed himself.  
  
And she was his mother. At least, that had been his original opinion of her. All the clues, all the mysterious insinuations to his past, all of them appeared to point to this one human woman. She was obviously very fair, though it embarrassed Inu-yasha to admit this about the woman he thought of as his mother. Her material assets were few, but in spirit and beauty she had an abundance and yet more to spare; she was far more compassionate than anyone Inu-yasha had ever had the fortune or misfortune to meet. She was kind, and yet instructive; she taught the village children, who came to her secluded grotto for aid, how to grow and tend their own herbal gardens, and even taught the older children a few magical incantations of healing. Whether or not the incantations worked was not the point; simply the fact that she paid honest, undiluted attention to these children meant so much to them, as there was no other adult in any of their lives that did. Inu-yasha was so in love with this woman he did not know, forced to watch her from afar from fear of scaring her away.  
  
And then one day he had, to his surprise, given away his position, and she had, to her surprise, met him. And she had loved him. Despite his inhuman ears that flopped atop his head like a puppy dog's and the slightly wolflike influence of his claws and teeth, she had loved him, treating him just like the children of the village. And he had loved her. First as the caring, maternal figure he had always longed for, then, later, as the beautiful, amazing woman she was. Had Inu-yasha known ahead of time how powerful and blinding his love would become, he would likely have never sought after her in the first place; but it was too late, he was already in far over his head, and there was nothing he could or wanted to do about it.  
  
And then, in a flash, she was dead. She was dead, after trying to kill *him*, and in her betrayal, she left him alone. Alone and dying. Alone and broken. But mostly, alone.  
  
Forever.  
  
*---*  
  
Well, what did you think? My father says the part where he talks about the stable hand's son is "Vulgar and cliché", but that's how Inu-yasha is, isn't it? I don't know. I like it. But, whatever. You tell me.  
  
I really got into the writing groove with this chapter. I should have been in bed an hour ago, but I stayed up to finish the chapter, just for you people. Aren't you pleased? I think it turned out well. Rather wordy, but I like it...  
  
Anyway. Please, PLEASE R&R. Until next chapter, ciao! 


	3. Hall of the Mountain King

Too tired to say much. Chapter 3. Yay.  
  
Disclaimer: Inu-yasha © Rumiko Takahashi...yes, even his soul. This fic © me...yes, even the insanity.  
  
*---*  
  
With a disinterested snort, the horse lurched to a sudden stop. Inu-yasha sank his fingers into the mane, eyes wide as he found himself nearly flying head-over-heels to the ground below. "Stupid animal," he muttered after a moment, returning to his saddle and trying to resume the pace with as much dignity as he could muster.  
  
A soft snuffling sound from behind caused his brows to lower, and he turned an evil eye to his unwanted companion. Alfred choked to a stop mid-chuckle, and returned Inu-yasha's glower with his own anxious stare. "Yes, my lord?"  
  
"Remind me again why you had to come along." With a passive sigh, Inu-yasha closed his eyes for a moment and turned towards the horizon. The sun was just starting to set, and Inu-yasha welcomed the evening breezes with a slightly parted mouth and unbuttoned sleeve cuffs. His mare, too, seemed pleased with the transition, for she spent less time trying to chew his ankles off and more time walking into things. Inu-yasha wasn't sure if she did it out of spite or accident; horses, he knew, were extremely stupid creatures. Still, it *was* faster than walking, at least at the pace humans walked. If he had been alone, he would have run at full speed, perhaps if he dared shedding his mortal guise and taking on his natural, humanoid yet canine form. He had experienced it only a few occasions since childhood, but felt infinitely comfortable in it at all times.  
  
However, he was not alone, as he was quickly reminded when he heard the sickly, wheezing noise Alfred emitted whenever he was about to exert himself in a dialogue of some length.  
  
"Well, your highness. Seeing as how you are the heir to the throne and your father is now passed, you are a high objective for anyone who desires power. There are many who would do you harm, Lord Harold. Not just enemies outside the country, but even some of your less loyal subjects. Why, you are most likely the prime target of even your brother, Lord Willia-"  
  
"Yes, but what does that have to do with you?" Inu-yasha interrupted in a harsh tone, cutting his servant off before the careless man could finish reciting the false human name of his hated sibling. "You weren't exactly hired for your exquisite combat skills." Inu-yasha turned to the man and was pleased to see the beginnings of a shameful blush forming on his daintily sallow cheeks. It felt good to subtly inform the runt of a human that he was utterly useless to Inu-yasha.  
  
"Well, it's true that my fighting abilities are lacking, but I make an excellent chaperone. You are young yet, Lord Inu-yasha. You do not yet know all the ways of the wo-"  
  
"Is that so? Hm." Giving a slight kick, and then another as his horse ignored the first, Inu-yasha broke into a trot and left Alfred abruptly in the dust. The man sputtered out a few belated beseeching commands, but Inu- yasha was already out of human earshot. Alfred sighed and resigned himself to his aged gelding's steady plod.  
  
*Wretched fool. Chaperone, my bloody ass. I don't need him or any other mortal. I'm perfectly find by myse-* Inu-yasha's thoughts trailed off as the haze in the distance began to clear, and the road throughout the featureless plain began to earnestly lead somewhere. The whiteness of the clouds delineated amongst themselves, becoming geometric and cylindrical as he neared. Soon the light colors darkened to grey, and Inu-yasha knew immediately he was looking at the White Castle of London. Even in the distance, his demonic eyes could define the four towers as they rose from the rectangular base of the building, adding height and definition to an otherwise plain structure. The castle might have been taken as a physical metaphor for London itself-a strong and simple city at its core, but rich with embellishments when viewed from afar. Inu-yasha smiled to himself, fairly proud. England was his country, and though the other realm still regarded it as full of barbarians, Inu-yasha knew it was superior to all the heathen city-states that couldn't be bothered amidst all their civil wars to unite and become countries of their own. Savages. And they dared call *his* country a nation of brutes?!  
  
Soon after the appearance of the castle came the main roadways and outskirts of London, from the many trade streets and their infinite jamboree of merchants and outside vendors, to the taverns and inns that dotted the domestic areas and called weary travelers to them like oases in the jungle. Inu-yasha turned his head sleepily and noticed there were farms about him, far enough from London to have room to grow their crops but close enough to transport their yields before they spoiled. He watched with amusement as a young peasant girl jumped from the road and ran into the barley fields of her family, in hot pursuit of a friendly sheepdog. In the middle of a wheat field, an older boy was pulling weeds and wiping his brow, nearing the end of his workday.  
  
Peasant life. Mortal life. How foreign it all was to him, he who had been forced to stay in the castle almost his entire life. His father must have put him there for a reason, but that reason was lost on Inu-yasha. He both loved and hated his father, as he loved and hated the castle. While it had been his safe haven and the place of his privileged raising, it was also his prison, the bars of his cage gilded with jewels and precious metals, but restrictive all the same. It was a common story, that of the prodigal child forced to live in seclusion, due to their own parent's extreme fear of corruption and danger. Well, he was free now. Free to go amongst his people and socialize. Free to show them who was boss. They had lived under a spineless and inactive ruler too long. They had doubtlessly grown soft, and that was something that *needed* to be remedied.  
  
--  
  
His father's regent welcomed Inu-yasha and his manservant with a contemptuous attitude that immediately incited Inu-yasha into hating him. Inu-yasha had never met the man before, as he had been appointed by Hanyou to care for the castle in the king's absence, but perhaps this last month of freedom had given the regent the mistaken opinion that he was to stay in power indefinitely.  
  
"I will be staying in the royal chamber," Inu-yasha announced, flashing the regent a look that dared him to argue. The man's scowl deepened, but he nodded and bowed out, obviously to prepare the room Inu-yasha had selected. Inu-yasha wondered quietly what room the regent had intended for him before. The smallest guest chamber? Maybe even the cellar, his mind suggested, and he let out a slightly audible laugh. *Let's see how prod that wretch is when I attach him to the chandelier by his member. That should make a suitable demonstration to keep the others in line.* Inu-yasha laughed again, this time loud enough that Alfred actually turned and looked to him as if he were separated from his sanity.  
  
"I'm glad to find you find your accommodations so pleasing," said a masculine voice from the doorway of another room. Inu-yasha's blood ran cold and the hair prickled on his neck. He turned slowly, gingerly, as if simply moving his joints caused him pain. His eyes blazed an uncanny gold- red as he pierced the darkness, knowing the man even before he stepped from the shadows and revealed himself.  
  
"Lord William," Alfred said in a hushed whisper. His hesitancy was no surprise at all; even though he ruled Normandy and not England, William was known for his ferocity both in war and in international politics, and had been known to shed blood if the urge overcame him. Alfred backed away slowly in fear, but Inu-yasha reacted differently; raising his hands at his sides and curling in his fingers in a way that was reminiscent of a cat sharpening its claws, Inu-yasha approached his brother, his eyes never once traveling from the eyes just opposite him.  
  
"Be at ease, Brother. I come only to discuss the problems which have arisen as a result of our father's untimely demise." Sesshoumaru's lips quirked, smiling in a way that was perhaps more frightening than his normal apathetic frown. Inu-yasha made a sound of disgruntlement in the back of his throat and paused just a few feet away.  
  
"Is that really why you're here, 'William'? Somehow I find myself distrusting your words," Inu-yasha smiled his own reckless grin, flicking his eyes down the length of his sibling then all at once turning round and sauntering nonchalantly into the downstairs library. Alfred watched after him with an expression of disbelief then glanced at Sesshoumaru only once before rushing after his master.  
  
"Keen as ever, I see," Sesshoumaru mumbled under his breath, staring after Inu-yasha with an expression that was anything but prideful. "We'll see if your intuition saves you this time." He snorted and stalked away in the opposite direction. His assistant Jaken was nowhere to be seen, but that alone was no huge surprise. Sesshoumaru usually preferred to work alone.  
  
--  
  
"What in the Goddess's name are you suggesting? There is no way in hell I will ever relinquish England to you!!"  
  
"You're forgetting, dear brother, you already promised to support me if I became ruler of England. Have you forgotten your little shipwreck fiasco already...? How selective of you."  
  
Inu-yasha growled and glared towards his brother angrily, but was unable to deny his claim. It *was* true that Inu-yasha had promised to support Sesshoumaru, but it had been the only way to get out of his clutches...Inu- yasha had been little more than a child when his ship had crashed and he found himself washed up on Sesshoumaru's Normandy shores and immediately captured by Sesshoumaru's forces. He had had little choice in the matter, seeing as how Sesshoumaru would have killed him had he refused.  
  
"Besides, I am older than you and would make a far better ruler than you could ever be. Do not be so childish, Harold. Think of your subjects, not yourself."  
  
"I am thinking of my subjects!" Inu-yasha exploded suddenly, leaping from his chair and leaning over the table with a terrible growl. "Do you think a kind ruler would turn them over to the likes of you?"  
  
Sesshoumaru smiled patronizingly, lifting his delicate hand and wiping a tiny fleck of spittle from his forehead before continuing. "I'm afraid your feelings of dissent for me, while perfectly warranted, are wholly personal, and have nothing to do with my capacity as a ruler. Really, Harold. Think clearly on this."  
  
Damn the bastard for always looking so perfectly at ease with himself! Damn him for his coolness, his lucidity... "I am thinking clearly!! And stop calling me that!" Inu-yasha raged, then lowered his voice to a conspiring whisper, so that only Sesshoumaru, with his demonic hearing, could make out his words. Absurd, since they were the only ones in the room, but barely audible nonetheless. "I swear, Sesshoumaru, if you try to take England from me, I'll have you killed immediately. The people here are loyal to me, not you. Care to test my bluff?" He added with a self-confident smirk.  
  
"Well, now. It's not peasants we'll be needing to settle this skirmish, is it?" Something before Inu-yasha flickered, and abruptly he found himself staring into a pair of large, narrowed, impossibly red demon eyes. He took a sudden intake of breath too fast to regret it, and pushed back, away from the table. Sesshoumaru smiled and leaned into his chair, his effect suitably impressioned on the young demon's consciousness. Inu-yasha's expression glimmered with rage, but Sesshoumaru was already looking away, towards the window showing the city and its surroundings outside. The quiet study seemed even quieter as Sesshoumaru stroked his chin slowly, apparently in contemplation of something for he ignored every one of Inu- yasha's attempts at getting his attention.  
  
"Very well, I have a deal to propose," Sesshoumaru announced without so much as a warning or change of posture. Blinking, Inu-yasha rose from his relinquished state in the hard-backed chair and resumed his glowering, waiting impatiently for Sesshoumaru to continue.  
  
"I will let you have your precious England," Sesshoumaru said, and Inu- yasha tensed, immediately suspicious. "And I will continue my reign as Normandy's commander. But know this: In five years' time, I will return here, to London, and claim it as my own. Hark my words, brother. They shall be what dictate your ruin."  
  
"Hah!" Inu-yasha shouted, more an exclamation than a noise of amusement or defiance. Yet anyone could tell just by looking at him that fear had infused itself into every pore and orifice of his body, and his legs trembled slightly as he forced himself to push his face beside his brother's. "Your return shall be greeted with open fire. Do what you will, Sesshoumaru; I will defeat you in the end." He laughed again and walked to the doorway, turning to look at Sesshoumaru once more before departing the chamber. He had tried to make his exit as heroic and brave as possible, but as soon as he was out of Sesshoumaru's view, he crushed himself against the stone wall and welcomed its coldness as if it were a bed of nails. He considered himself proud and fearless in most respects, but against his brother, he was always terrified, both by Sesshoumaru's presence and the fact that he had every will and ability to carry through with his threats. Sesshoumaru was far from any foolish mortal king; he was the first-born son of the Western God, and power was his birthright. Inu-yasha possessed only a fraction of that power, both because he was the second-born, and the fact that his bloodline was 'unclean', tarnished partly by the weak blood of a human. Someday, thought Inu-yasha, *someday I will face Sesshoumaru without fear.* Until that day, though...  
  
Inu-yasha shuddered, the air suddenly feeling several degrees cooler. Until that day, he would just have to put all his effort into surviving.  
  
--  
  
He remembered something about a witch. Kikyo had been sparse in the details, for some reason hesitant to talk about those who dwelled in the land of the dark crafts. Still, he remembered her at one point speaking candidly of the old witch who lived on the opposite side of his forest. What was her name? K...Keke... Kaine... Something similar to that. Damn it to hell! He couldn't remember.  
  
Well, it hardly mattered. The witch was a fortune-teller, and that's what Inu-yasha wanted her for. First he would test her out with generic questions, and if he found her talent to be true, then he would pose his ultimate question: would Sesshoumaru really try to take over England? Would he succeed? Inu-yasha felt his stomach lurch at the thought, but it was a question that had to be answered. Only if Inu-yasha knew what was coming could he prepare for it, and that meant getting help from the seers. There were others, of course, but almost all of them were false, and besides, he had no way of trusting their loyalty, even if they did speak the truth. Kikyo had spoken of this witch with reverence, though, and if Kikyo respected her, then so must Inu-yasha. Besides, he could always ignore her answer if he found it unsatisfactory.  
  
But before he posed his question, he would have to *find* the witch. And that meant going into the forest on his own. The only way to get rid of Alfred was to pacify him with the belief that Inu-yasha was not leaving the castle, but that was elementary: Inu-yasha would bolt his door and exit through the window, leading those in the castle to believe he was having another of his three-day fits. Inu-yasha cracked a grin. He'd never imagined his temper tantrums would actually be of more use than getting immediate attention. Well, whatever. The rest was not so simple. He knew only that the witch lived somewhere in the eastern half of his forest, and he couldn't even remember her name.  
  
Well, he would find her. He would find this witch and test her. And then, he would ask her.  
  
There was no way in hell he would ever allow Sesshoumaru to get his way.  
  
*---*  
  
What do you think? Tired, so can't say much. Please, please, PLEASE read and review! For all I know, there is absolutely no one reading this fic (actually, that's probably the case).  
  
Anyway, g'night. Thanks for reading! 


	4. The Boy Who Cried Wolf

Due to my computer currently being out of service as a result of my mother accidentally setting it on fire (don't ask...good news, I finally got that clean-up I wanted...bad news, I lost EVERYTHING...more bad news, she violated the warranty when she opened the motherboard and tried to replace the hard drive, and we can't afford to get a new computer for at least a year), I'm writing this on my laptop. I'll save it on a disk and upload it from the computers at my college tomorrow. As far as news goes,  
  
Comic-con was expensive. Line was three hours long. Feet hurt. Got Inu- yasha, Demon Diaries and Dragon Knights. Now have Inu-yasha 1-5 and 9-13, Demon Diaries 1-2 and Dragon Knights 1-8 (of those series. I have more manga than that). Costume is/was pretty. Want to wear cloak everywhere, but it's embarrassing. That's about it.  
  
Right, had to get that out of my system. Stuff happened, but I'll put that in my livejournal, not here. Now, on with the next chapter...  
  
Note: As I mentioned, MY computer (this is the laptop) is out of commission, and along with it, the internet and everything else, so I have no way to go back and see what I already wrote...this might get slightly redundant as a result. Please accept my apologies ahead of time. Thanks.  
  
Disclaimer: Inu-yasha and co. are © Rumiko Takahashi. Everything else is either historical or a product of my twisted mind.  
  
*---*  
  
The scent of wild canines assailed his senses as soon as he was in the forest proper. Inu-yasha wrinkled his nose and growled, looking from tree to tree as if the imposing force was directly in front of him. After a moment of silence, Inu-yasha grunted and moved on.  
  
He had taken only a few running leaps when again the stench reached him, so strong in its intensity that it gave him pause. The odor had no trace of domesticity, instead reeking of carrion and something akin to the haze that always surrounded a bog. The forest was in the southern half of England, which meant the only wild dogs around there were wolves. Inu-yasha growled again, this time accompanying the sound with an indignant lift of his nose. Something about wolves just got under his skin; something about their reckless, unskilled ways irked him to no end. Inu-yasha started off on a new path almost without realizing it, orienting on the loathsome scent and bearing down on it with the keenness of a bird of prey.  
  
The first wolf yipped then turned and bared its fangs as it saw Inu-yasha approach, soon after making a small *gruffling* noise that called its compatriots to its flanks. Their eyes flashed red, and he knew immediately they were demons, savage and hostile. Inu-yasha merely smiled, sparing a disdainful glance at the quarter of wolves before ripping them to shreds moments later with his claws. Bits of flesh fluttered unceremoniously through the air, landing on the ground in soft, heated clumps that steamed for a while then dissipated into smoke. Inu-yasha was already on his way again when he saw a flash in the trees, but he curbed his curiosity and recalled his mission, once more turning due east. Towards the witch.  
  
The house came into view almost as soon as he thought of it, startling the youth into a skidding stop. He turned towards it warily, inspecting it critically, as if forever suspecting a trap. The shack was small and simple in design, its roof in shambles but holding its own with surprising strength. The walls were not only in disrepair but seemed to actually be merging with the ground; the surrounding land was thick with weeds, and rogue vines invaded the lowest windowsills. Faintly pink gardenias gave the entire scene a soft, welcoming aura, and Inu-yasha was almost lulled into stepping up to the door and knocking on it directly.  
  
Inu-yasha caught himself long before he stepped into the scene, and he scouted out the area with a distrustful eye, ogling every leaflet as though expecting it to pop open and choke him with poison vapors. At last, though, after more than an hour of watching, Inu-yasha was mostly reassured it was safe. He stepped forward slowly, approaching the door and waiting only a moment before raising his fist and thrusting the ball of his hand against the door in two distinct knocks.  
  
Disappointment flooded through him immediately as he heard the knocks echo without response. She wasn't home? Never in all his imaginings had he thought that the witch might not be there. It was...inconceivable. In all the stories, and all the legends, the witch was always available, always. And yet here, in his singular hour of need, the witch was gone? Why, where had the tramp gone? Maybe she was out eating children, or looking for her next me—  
  
"What do you there?!"  
  
Inu-yasha whipped around, claws outstretching even as his expression of utter perplexity was replaced with one of anger at being caught unaware. His preparation was unnecessary, as no demon or monster of any sort had invaded his domain; before him was merely an old woman, skin leathery and skewered with wrinkles as her breath rattled unevenly with asthma and her hands shook with the barely subdued pain of arthritis.  
  
"Who be you?" she demanded again, inciting a growl as Inu-yasha looked her over. Her brows knitted angrily and she ambled over with surprising quickness, lifting her cane and knocking Inu-yasha on the shoulder bone before he could even think to respond.  
  
Inu-yasha let out a yelp as pain shot up his spine and jumped away, staring at the woman incredulously. "Witch?!" He demanded, startled, as if she was the antithesis of what he had expected.  
  
The woman seemed bridled for a moment, but sighed and waved at the demon in a dismissive gesture. "Still do they call me that? Pity. I be no weaver of dark arts. The powers that I use be only good."  
  
"So you are," Inu-yasha replied curtly, rubbing his wounded shoulder and staring at her with open animosity. He apparently had heard not a word of her explanation, for he immediately stated, "I want you to cast a possession spell for me."  
  
"I do not cast possession spells!" she screeched, shoving past him and stepping into her hut without so much as a backward glance. After a moment she turned and tapped the bottom of her cane on the inner bricks of the floor, staring at Inu-yasha impatiently as though she was waiting for him to enter. After a moment of indecision, Inu-yasha quickly complied. Best be wary of the witch, old and frail though she appeared. Magic users should never be trusted, especially not those of the female persuasion. Inu-yasha reclined into an armchair she indicated with an impassive tip of her staff, keeping his eyes locked on her backside. She ignored him, going into the kitchen and lighting the stove with a snap of her fingers.  
  
"Besides, what would a young demon lad like yourself be wanting with a possession spell? You've a pretty face; you need only charm the village girls with sweet words and a handsome guise, if that be your intent. Or perhaps you were planning on coming into riches by means of usurping some local baron. Why, it never works, I tell ye; just last week, I had some—"  
  
"I don't care about you insipid mortals!" Inu-yasha snapped, disgruntled at both her insinuations and the fact that she had recognized his nature at once. Of course he had yet to resume his human masquerade, preferring his true form for its finesse and skill in combat, but that still didn't give her the right to—  
  
"Ah, no, of course not." The woman chuckled, a deep, throaty sound that surprised Inu-yasha with its vitality. A lot about this mortal was surprising him, actually, and he wasn't pleased about any of it. "Perhaps, then, you were hoping to invade your brother's castle in the body of one of his servants and kill him while he slept?" She absorbed his shocked visage with a satisfied grin and returned to her tea-making, continuing her conversation as if unaware that Inu-yasha was currently startled out of his wits. How in the Goddess' name had she known?!?  
  
The metal pot clanked as her spoon hit the side of it, causing Inu-yasha to jump slightly and his white furred ears to perk automatically. "It's possible, yes, but the odds are astronomical. First of all, Sesshoumaru is no brainless lout; he would sense you coming half a country away, disguise or no disguise. Not to mention that horrid little underling of his, Jaken...No, Inu-yasha. While I commend you on your otherwise foolhardy idea, I'm afraid it be not applicable to your situation." She finished with a sudden bang on the lid of the pot as she shook the driblets of boiling water off the spoon, tossing it without looking so that it thunked as it hit the inside of the drawer in perfect form. Inu-yasha glanced from the drawer and stared at the woman, desperately wishing she knew no more about his situation.  
  
"Fine, then; what would you have me do?" he demanded, playing along with the game for now. She smiled and nodded, causing a shiver to run down Inu- yasha's spine quietly.  
  
"What you do to fix this matter can come from only you. I can, however, help you from the sidelines."  
  
"Explain."  
  
Again that smile, the same one that gave him the impression that everything was going exactly as she had planned. He repressed a growl and forced himself to take in her response. "I can tell you of the future. Whether your present actions are going to keep you on top, or give him leave to take over." Her eyes glittered as she twisted round once more to meet his glare. "You ought to know if you're going to be successful or not."  
  
"And what if your spell says I'm not?" he asked without pause. "What then? If it's the future, I cannot change it, correct? How can knowing that I will fail be of any use at all?"  
  
"You are wrong." He blinked and his heart skipped a note when her words hit him. He swallowed, unintentionally leaning in closer. "You can change the future."  
  
"How?" he whispered, his voice full of disbelief.  
  
Her lips cracked in her final smile. "I'll show you." The water bubbled within the teacup and she sipped it, mouth twisted with the confidence of a god.  
  
--  
  
"Goddess of All...Let us see the way of the gods. Let us see the future...bestow us with your knowledge. Let us know the course of things as you will them. Let us know..."  
  
By the third chanting, Inu-yasha's mind has begun to wander, and his gaze focused on the folds of skin beneath the witch's chin, watching with disgusted wonder as they flapped with each sharply punctuated vowel. Inu- yasha's right hand had gone numb from being leaned on, and he felt his lids drooping, belatedly realizing he had not slept soundly since meeting with his brother. She seemed to be doing just find without him, so Inu-yasha let his attention go to other things, such as the rattling sound of the trees outside as they shuddered amidst a sudden windstorm. Inu-yasha heard howling and immediately thought of wolves, but then realized it was only the drafts as they forced themselves through the cracks in the aged glass of the windows.  
  
A bevy of air stirred the ashes in the extinguished fire pit, causing Inu- yasha to blink rapidly as bits of rubbish plagued his eyes. "Dammit!" he shouted, immediately reproachful, but relieved to find the woman had not paused in her chanting. At last the pool of water before her began to stir, and his eyes were drawn to it, watching, entranced as the globules of liquid lifted upon themselves and began to delineate into definite shapes, first clear and colorless then full of life as Inu-yasha began to recognize the beginnings of a scene.  
  
The first thing he saw clearly was a human corpse. Inu-yasha almost gagged as the head grew larger in his view, the caved-in skull filled with writhing maggots. The vision was so complete that the demon could almost smell the ruptured flesh, as pocked and holey as old clothing. The view shifted suddenly, causing him a moment of disorientation, then again he covered his mouth as another corpse focused in front of him. It was a road lined with corpses, some pestilent and ancient, others less than a day old. The person to whom the view belonged looked down at her hands, and Inu- yasha stared at the thin, bony wrists in amazement, never before having seen the flesh of someone so near starvation.  
  
The person began running, and the water of the pool splished lightly as the apparition changed quickly, showing lane after lane of rotting corpses. *What sort of hell is this?* Inu-yasha wondered in horror. *Is this England?*  
  
"What year did you say this was, Kaede?" Inu-yasha asked, trying to stare at the half-eaten corpse of a baby and the skeleton of a puppy with deadpan eyes.  
  
"1348, about 350 years from now. Rather far in the future, yes, but you should still be able to find out who is the new ruler of England."  
  
Indeed, if he didn't vomit out his innards first. Inu-yasha turned away, disturbed and angry at the nausea in his stomach. Why was he being affected so strongly? It wasn't as if he cared for any of these grotesque, dead mortals; all of them weren't even born yet. But still, something was pulling him, something similar to a chill or a desperately sought-after memory...  
  
They were his people. This was England, and these were his people. And they were dying. All of them.  
  
No, not all of them. The girl was still alive. But barely...she was so thin, so godsdamned thin, and her skin was a little pinkish around the edges...she had it too, whatever this sickness was. Her time was limited.  
  
"No!" Inu-yasha cried suddenly as the girl faltered and stumbled to her knees. "She's getting weaker! Can't you do something, Kaede?" The witch turned to look at him, one eyebrow raised skeptically. She, too, was surprised at his concern. At last, something the witch hadn't planned on!  
  
"...No, Inu-yasha. This is in the future...if I try to alter it in any way, I risk creating a paradox that might cancel out the future, that might, if it is severe enough, even destroy the world and stars as we know them. We can't—"  
  
"But look at her!" he rasped, his voice frayed as the girl stumbled yet again. It was impossible to keep up his façade of indifference in the face of so much death and destruction. For all his words, Inu-yasha was still half-human, and still had half a human soul.  
  
"No, Inu-yasha." The edge in her voice had sharpened, becoming crystal clear, but Inu-yasha was oblivious; he shoved past her towards the pool of water, thrusting his hands into it as if that would send him there, make him useful. The water splashed wildly and noisily as it collided with his skin, leaving him undamaged but searing him emotionally with its powerful magic. Inu-yasha backed away and rubbed at his wrists, and the water immediately fixed itself just in time to show the girl trip over the outflung corpse of a woman's body and the rush of dirt as her fingers crunched beneath her.  
  
"No!" he shouted again, taking the edges of the pan in his hands and forcing it heavily to spill over the sides. Kaede made a noise of surprise and leapt forward to swat his hands away, but Inu-yasha's grip remained firm, lifting the heavy dish with strength inhuman.  
  
"You'll break the spell! Inu-yasha, what are you doing?! Release that plate at once! Inu-yasha!" After acknowledging that he was ignoring her, the witch grabbed a wooden staff from the doorway and hit him over the head with it. Inu-yasha reacted automatically, reaching out with his claws and taking all the nearest objects to him. This included Kaede, Kaede's staff, and about a half dozen assorted vials and objects off the table beside the dish of water.  
  
The thin glass of the fragile containers burst easily, and the various liquids spilled into the pool, some scalding him, others passing off his skin without effect. Inu-yasha jumped away, but Kaede was already staring in open-mouthed horror as the water began to churn of its own accord, the colors of the foreign liquids staining it a bizarre mix of red and brown and fuchsia. Faster and faster it spun, elongating into a spire of liquid that was thick and almost as tall as Inu-yasha, until without warning it exploded and drenched the room in a rainbow of puke and bile.  
  
Inu-yasha coughed and choked as some of it entered his lungs, then leaned against the wall, hopelessly trying to recover. When he opened his eyes, he saw Kaede hunched over the broken shards of the saucer, her spine absolutely rigid.  
  
"What did you find?" He asked quietly in a gruff voice that failed to belay his worry.  
  
As if unable to speak, Kaede glanced at him then stepped aside, beckoning him once to come forward.  
  
He did, and his jaw parted in the epitome of perplexion and surprise.  
  
Before him on the ground was the small, waifish form of the girl from the future. Her hair was black, and her face was more familiar than the face of anyone else in the entire world, either present or past.  
  
A bead of moisture had gathered at the corner of Inu-yasha's left eye, and it slid down his temple as he spoke. "Oh, my Goddess. Kikyo."  
  
*---*  
  
Eek, what a long chapter. Sorry about that. I had a lot I was trying to fit in (I say that a lot, don't I?) I tried to make it flow pretty smoothly, though...  
  
I noticed I tend to be wordy. Is that a good thing, or does that put y'all to sleep? :p Of course I have no way of telling, considering the fact that NO ONE HAS EVER WRITTEN A SINGLE REVIEW...Sigh. Huh? Me bitter? No, why? -_-  
  
Anyway. Some of you are probably thinking now, "Whoa, (Kaede/Inu-yasha) is really out of character." And I ask you: Were they ever in character, in this fic? I had to change them a little bit, both to make the plot fit and to make it flow better, but I tried to keep to the original characters as much as possible. Inu-yasha is more compassionate in this than he is in the manga, I think, but then, we've never really seen Inu-yasha in a similar position...oh well.  
  
In any case, thanks for reading this far, and please review. Please!  
  
~Keh!~ 


	5. I Think I'm Turning Japanese

After much deliberation, I've decided to change some of the names. Some can slide by, like the names of the demons, but really. A girl in 14th century England just would not be named Kagome.  
  
So, you can either try to figure out who is who through your own devices, or skip to the bottom of this and read the key.  
  
I'm also going to start making end-of-the-chapter-glossaries for odd words I sometimes use in the story.  
  
Disclaimer: Inu-yasha is Rumiko Takahashi's charge, yo.  
  
*---*  
  
A flicker of terror swept through her, and then there was only nausea. Her lips pursed in a grimace before opening in a disheartened sigh. She could discern nothing, feeling only sick and confused.  
  
"No." The voice shot through her, running up her spine like an infusion of ice water, and she gasped, cracking apart her lids and flitting disoriented glances about the entire scene. Her vision was slowly restoring itself, and she could see the various colors: brown, red, peach, amber, and a great length of white. Was this Hell? If so, where was the fire? Or had she.had she been sent to the lowest hell, the hell of ice and snow?  
  
"No what, witch?" The white shifted, and the girl realized with a start that it was a continuous shank of hair. White hair? But the face it belonged too wasn't wrinkled in the slightest.  
  
She heard a groan and stiffened, realizing after a second it wasn't her own noise of discomfort. Finally she realized there were two other people in the scene, and they were talking to each other, not her.  
  
"It's not Kikyo. That's impossible."  
  
A growl. For the third time, the girl grew tense. Just what manner of creatures were these? They didn't sound human.and why was their speech so halted? Were they peasants? .Had they the sickness, as well?  
  
"In any matter, the girl is injured. Here, aid me in lifting her to my pallet." A pause and some shuffling, then the girl felt her stomach clench over itself as she was lifted from the floor and set down a few feet over on something soft. "Girl. Are you awake?"  
  
"Of course the chit's awake. She's been groaning this whole damn time like a whore in heat. Why don't you ask her if-"  
  
"Do not raise your voice to me in such an impudent matter, pup." A loud 'tmp!' followed by the sh-sh-ing of disturbed hair sounded in the room, and she turned her gaze to the white-haired one, watching him rub his sore head with something akin to amusement.  
  
"Look. She's smiling. The bitch can't be hurting too badly."  
  
The other voice-she now recognized it as belonging to an aged female-made a noise similar to a grunt of aggravation, and the girl gasped when a cool, damp towel was placed on her forehead. "Tell me, girl. Can you speak? What is your name?"  
  
"Ve-" she stopped just in time, sparing a moment to look from face to face accusingly. "Tell me what manner of creatures you are first."  
  
"She speaks with the tongue of a noblewoman," the elder noted with an approving nod. The girl smiled to herself, somehow vainly pleased that even outlandish infidels such as these could recognize her status. "Fine then, girl. I am the sorceress Kaede, and this is Inu-yasha. You were brought here, to our time, through a divination spell gone awry."  
  
For a moment her heart seemed to forget its beat, and she stared at the woman with suspicious wonder at her obvious insanity. "You mean to tell me," she enunciated carefully, pushing herself off the table and trying in vain to ignore the swimming of her mind's intestines, "That I have been brought to a different era, by a product of witchcraft, and not only that but by error? What sort of daft simpleton do you take me for?!"  
  
The male smirked as the older woman Kaede frowned, pushing a finger to her temple distractedly. "I see this is going to be harder than first I thought."  
  
"I'll go make some drinks," the male said, walking off into another room.  
  
The girl felt something being pushed into her back, and turned around to see Kaede supporting her with a pillow. "You'd best get comfortable. I have a lot to say, and it's going to take time to tell it all. Now, since I've given you our proper introductions, why don't you return the gesture?"  
  
After a moment of distrustful staring, the girl nodded curtly. "I am the Lady Vera, daughter of Sir Micah, son of Michael, Lay Leader of St. Francis' Church." She finished with a practiced smile, mouth slightly open as she caught her breath. Kaede was smiling softly, amused by the girl's pride in her title.  
  
"Very well, then, Vera. Are you in comfort? Good. Let's start with the beginning."  
  
--  
  
Inu-yasha clutched at the pot handle, acutely feeling the texture of the baked clay as it pushed into the flesh of his palm. He was angry, both at the girl, and at himself. How could he cause such a mess with his own imbecilic blunderings? He refused to acknowledge his liability in front of the others, but he knew full well this was all his fault. And now they had an insolent little noblewoman on their hands, with no idea how to return her to her time or even if they wanted to. How could any creature with a soul return the girl to such a time of disruption and sickness?  
  
Luckily for him, Inu-yasha was certain he had no soul.  
  
Reaching into the shelves of the kitchen, Inu-yasha located the marked crock and pulled out the container of cider. The air inside gave a small pop as he yanked the securing cord off, peeling back the leather and resisting a deep sniff as the scent of the cider wafted throughout the kitchen.  
  
Voices drifted through the open doorway, but his keen ears could make out every word as clearly as if he were standing right beside them. Kaede was telling the girl about the truth of magic and otherworldly creatures, and the girl was refusing to believe it. What was she, a religious nut? No surprise that humans, even humans of the future, were as close-minded as ever. No problem, though; it made it easier for his kind to stay out of the public eye, and therefore, out of danger.  
  
"Vera." Kaede said suddenly, startling Inu-yasha from his musings. Vera? Was that the girl's name? He must have missed it. Remembering his duties, he carried the opened jar over to a countertop and began pouring measured amounts into the pot used for heating.  
  
"You must calm down and listen to me. We're not going to hurt you. We want to help you get back to your time. However, in order to accomplish this, we need your cooperation. Do you understand me?"  
  
Glancing through the doorway, Inu-yasha paused to watch the girl tremble. For all her bravado, she was still just a child. A child, and a human. "Feh. What a weakling."  
  
He was stalling, and he knew it. Yet it was so interesting to listen to their conversation when they couldn't tell he was aware of their every breath. They spoke freer, especially the girl, which was no surprise. A religious nut like her would be terrified of the big, bad demon.  
  
"A Daemon?!" Inu-yasha's head snapped towards the opening, his gaze immediately meeting the fearful blue-gray eyes of the girl. He almost dropped the pot in surprise, instead holding it close to his chest, subconsciously protective of anything he could put between himself and the nonbeliever. Why was she just now staring at him as if he had grown a body of thorns?  
  
"Yes. But do not worry yourself; he will not harm you. While not all, there are some demons who do not wish harm to-"  
  
"A daemon?" the girl cried again, pronouncing the word differently than Kaede. Her hands flew up and after a jumbled moment of movement, she had managed to cross her right pointing finger horizontally over her left pointing finger as it shoved upward, and Inu-yasha stared at the symbol in confusion only a fraction of a second before immediately recognizing it and growling in response.  
  
"I shall see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil!" Vera began chanting in a frantic hiss, alternating between thrusting holy finger formulations in his direction and inching backwards on the platform, away from him. Inu- yasha spared a moment to look at Kaede, who sat shaking her head and mumbling something about 'just killing the damn chit'. He had to smile at that.  
  
However her ululations were gaining amplitude, and Inu-yasha's mouth again creased in an angry scowl. He set the crock down with a loud 'clonk' and started marching towards the girl, pushing tables out of his way as he went and fully intending to rip that tongue out of her mouth and give it to Kaede for dinner. He was only a few steps away when Kaede stretched her arm forward and touched his stomach briefly before whispering a few words, and Inu-yasha leaned on the pallet's edge as he suddenly felt all his strength drain away. He sent a furious look towards the magician, but she was already preoccupied grabbing the girl's flailing wrists and forcing her into silence with commanding words.  
  
Vera gasped and Inu-yasha looked up; she had managed to wrench one arm free, and was now pointing at his inhuman ears with open-mouthed outrage. "How dare you force me to associate with this spawn of Satan!?" she demanded, facing the 'Satan-spawn' but speaking to Kaede. "Do you wish to send me to Hell for eternity?!"  
  
"Oh, for the Goddess' sake, there is no hell!! That's just foolishness invented by the Christian priests to keep the followers in line." With a frighteningly intense glare in the girl's direction, Kaede lost her temper, saying what she had wanted to the whole time. "Now shut up, you undeserving little brat, or else I'll let Inu-yasha kill you here on the spot! *Will you shut up!!*" She added loudly as the girl began screaming. Startled, Vera choked to a stop.  
  
"*Now then.* I think I have an idea of how to return you to your time, but the object I need is very rare and hard to find. I'm far too old to go looking myself; you'll have to follow my instructions and fetch it from the woods to the southeast, and I suggest you take Inu-yasha along for protection. This world is not nearly as safe as you have been lead to believe."  
  
"What? No way, hag!" Inu-yasha vented, simultaneous with Vera's accosted "How dare you even suggest such a thing!" Kaede quieted them both with a gesture that rendered them involuntarily voiceless.  
  
"You will do as I say, or you will die! Listen to me, both of you. Vera has the sickness as well. This charm I speak of will not only cure her, but could cure the entire English country, if she manages to bring it back with her to her time. However, if you do *not* find the charm, Vera's sickness will spread, and the entire of England will be contaminated with it in this era, as well!"  
  
"No way." The whiteness of Inu-yasha's hair seemed to pale slightly, as he stared at the aged woman with a face totally devoid of color. "Everyone? Even demons?"  
  
"Everyone," Kaede confirmed, head bowed. Her eyes opened and she slid her gaze upward to stare first at Inu-yasha, then Vera, her stare so intense that it appeared she was branding each one's soul. "If you do not find the charm, everyone will die."  
  
"Why did you have to come here?!" Inu-yasha charged Vera suddenly, voice near to cracking as he forced her eyes to meet with his own. "Why did you have to ruin everything?"  
  
"I-I-" Vera stuttered, for perhaps the first time in her life finding herself without anything to say. "I'm.sorry."  
  
"Sorry *isn't going to cut it!!*" Vera gasped in shock and pain as the man pushed her roughly backward, and she hit her spine on the edge of the pallet as she keeled over. Kaede watched the scene with a bitterly impassive eye, herself angered and dismayed by the girl's coming.  
  
"You must do it, both of you. You must go as soon as possible," Kaede warned.  
  
"To Hell with that! I'm going right now! You-" Vera's eyes narrowed as he addressed her with a clawed finger. "You stay right here. I won't have you infecting any more of my subjects." Barely taking the time to grab his cloak from the stand by the main door, he threw it open and stalked out. Kaede looked after him and raised a hand as if in preparation to say something, but reconsidered and again faced Vera.  
  
"Subjects?" Vera asked, looking at Kaede with brows quirked in curiosity.  
  
"Yes. Inu-yasha is currently acting as the King of England. Now, I suggest you go after him before he disappears into the forest forever."  
  
With a breathless nod, Vera hopped off the pallet. The lower half of the door splintered as she slammed it against the outside wall and pounded after in his wake.  
  
*---*  
  
I apologize for the relative shortness of this chapter, but the next subject I'm going to broach is a long and complicated one, and I didn't want to cut it short for fear of making this chapter extend over 3,000 words, nor intimidate people out of reading it through sheer size. You probably won't have to wait too much longer for the next chapter, though, seeing as how tomorrow is the last day of classes and I'll have basically nothing else to work on (at least, nothing I'll be willing to finish).  
  
I also apologize for the lateness of this chapter, but first I didn't know how to go about writing it, then I had a plan but no will to write it, then today I had the most beautiful epiphany.  
  
Anyway. I hope this story is still interesting? I know the characters are very uncharacteristic in comparison to their original characters in the actual series, but like I said at the beginning, for the devices of this plot and my own writing style, some things have to be changed.  
  
And now, as promised, the key:  
  
Vera- Kagome. Originally I was going to name her after an Angel in the Christian Bible, but I couldn't find any female names I liked. Finally I settled on Vera, though if that didn't fit I was going to use Elizabeth or Bethany.  
  
So far that's the only name change, but here's for the odd words:  
  
Daemon: Christian- type demon, mainly, a direct descendant of Satan.  
  
Demon: any kind of diabolical or nonhuman and nonfae creature; the definitions vary greatly, but this is the one I use.  
  
I promise there will be more Fluffmeister in just a few chapters. Be patient with me. I also promise he will remain eternally cool.  
  
Until next chapter. 


	6. The Giving Tree

Ah! Late! I know! But, you see, Summer heat + my own inherent laziness = super abso-freakin-total lazy Wulfie. In other words, much Zzz-age.  
  
That was confusing.  
  
Onward!  
  
Disclaimer: Sir Inu-Yasha belongeth to the great Lady Rumiko Takahashi, as doth his kin and countrymen. The events of history belong to the process of evolution, and England and France belong to.themselves, I guess.  
  
*---*  
  
The twig was only half-crushed beneath her foot before the demon heard it and whirled around to face her.  
  
"What the Hell are you following me for?!" Inu-yasha vented, waving his claws in a manner stupid creatures might have considered intimidating but Vera found only silly. "What part of 'stay put' is too evolved for your pathetic noblewoman mind to comprehend? Do you not see how st-"  
  
"*Will* you shut up?" Vera interrupted, her voice so low and full of disgust that it gave even Inu-yasha pause. "Did you think for even a *heartbeat* that I have *any* desire *what-so-ever* to accompany you on this little quest? I would sooner set myself on fire and allow myself to be eaten alive by rats!"  
  
"Then what are you doing here?" the man muttered, pointing out the obvious. "And besides, rats wouldn't touch a filthy corpse like yours. The stench of your stupidity scares even the hungriest of buzzards away."  
  
By the end of his response, the girl's eyes were barely open and her jaw was set in complete resentment. "How *dare* you," she said simply, shoving past him down the forest in a determined stride that ill-fit her easily- bruised noblewoman's skin and fine silk dress, now mostly in tatters. Wearing an expression of equal hatred and just a tinge of amusement, Inu- yasha watched her only a moment before setting off behind.  
  
She must have noticed him immediately, but instead deigned to ignore him, forging ahead with such exaggerated vehemence that she tired in almost half the time she would have under normal duress. After an hour or so, Vera's steps visibly slowed, and she turned, careful to look past Inu-yasha as if he weren't there.  
  
"Kaede said to go to the southeast," he informed her casually, "though I wouldn't recommend going south yet. There's a kobold camp detachment I haven't gotten around to decimating yet, and I doubt a little bitch like you could handle even one of them."  
  
Vera growled, and Inu-yasha smiled. "Now, if only you would start treating me like your rightful ruler, and less like a creature from your supposed Hell; then we might be able to arrange something."  
  
Vera hissed under her breath, so quiet that even she could not hear it, but of course Inu-yasha made out the word with hardly any effort at all.  
  
"Never?" the man repeated, coming forward half a step and chuckling when Vera hastily backed away. "Well, what a shame. Seems I should leave you to your death then. Oh," he added, putting fist to hand in a native demon gesture of remembering something. "On second thought, do please head south. Kaede said that plague works on everything, so you might as well get rid of some pests for me before you expire. Be a dear and give them my regards?"  
  
Vera shrunk from the loud bark of his laugh, and watched him trot away with maleficent eyes. "Irrefragable though your logic must be," she susurrated, lips pinched and nose raised high in the air, "I must digress. I will not be a test animal to your failures as a leader!"  
  
That, for some reason, brought his steps to a halt. Vera heard a peculiar sound, and realized after a second that the man was snarling. Literally snarling! Well, he was supposed to be related to dogs, after all. It made sense that he would have the mannerisms of one.  
  
Vera gasped as she blinked and found Inu-yasha's furious face so close she could feel his breath on her nose. "Don't you *ever* lecture *me* on how to rule, you impetuous bitch!!"  
  
"Temper, temper," Vera murmured, inside reeling at her own daring. Where had all this bravado come from? She had always been such a gentle girl, well.sort of, she mused, simultaneous with her voice as she coaxed the demon's anger with a few choice words. "Seems I've touched a soft spot, hmm? I knew there was bound to be one somewhere in that mess of fangs and fury."  
  
"You want fangs?" Inu-yasha gesticulated, his tone somewhere between joy and pure hatred. "I'll give you-"  
  
"Hey now. You need me."  
  
Shocked out of his wits, Inu-yasha paused mid-swipe. "Huh?"  
  
"Kaede told me I'm the only one who can see the charm. There's no way you can find it. And even if you don't go looking for it, you've already been infected, I'm sure. The only way you could save everyone would be to kill me, Kaede, and you, and even then you couldn't be certain, I mean what if a strain of it gets into the forest life-"  
  
"When, where, and under what flavor of insanity did Kaede say such a thing?" Inu-yasha's eyes seemed to glaze over as he spoke, and afterward his expression hardened. You're making it up. I commend you on the effort at preserving your life, but it's fruitless. You've already sealed your fate with your careless insults."  
  
"I am not! Ask Kaede right now! Do you really want to risk being wrong?" Vera breathed, almost swallowing her tongue when Inu-yasha again approached her and bore down on her with his intense glare.  
  
Inu-yasha hesitated for only a moment, and it was only a moment Vera needed. Not even stopping long enough to get her bearings, Vera ducked from beneath the demon and took off in a dead run through the forest, jumping off the path and forcing her way through the foliage with newfound strength. Branch after branch slapped her in the face, stinging her cheeks and almost blinding her with their nettles, but still she ran, jumping to her feet when she fell, recovering when she smacked into tree trunks.  
  
And then, without warning, she broke into a clearing.  
  
And there were kobolds, holding spears and crossbows to her neck. Big ones.  
  
"Oh, God, preserve me," Vera whispered, almost fainting from the stench as the breeze faded and the kobolds' natural odor invaded her senses. *I've really done it now.*  
  
--  
  
Ah, the wiles of fools. Kaede sighed, the deep, longing sigh of an older person, and hobbled with uncharacteristic slowness to the broken pieces of clay and wood. The house was a mess, and all because of that nasty demon and the girl from the future. And what was worse, now Kaede was sick, already aware with her preternatural senses of the infected cells as they swam steadily, stealthily throughout her veins and arteries. She was old, and, like it or not, mortal. The plague was harder on the weak, and hardest of all on a woman long past her prime. Kaede was already reviewing all the possible remedies in her mind, and finding only ways to slow the sickness, not stop it. That damned demon and his girl better not get sidetracked, or she was doomed.  
  
Oh, blessed be. They were probably already off on a tangent, squabbling or perhaps ripping each other's hair out. No way they would find the jewel in time.  
  
Well, she would just have to give them a little push forward.  
  
The bits of broken pottery already forgotten, the aged sorceress turned to her cabinets and pulled out all manner of herbs and creature parts. At one time in her youth, such a spell would only require the shortest of incantations, but now she needed components. Well, no getting around it. Mashing and mixing the materials with practiced hands, Kaede soon had a fine dust that she took to a candle and sprinkled over the flame gingerly. Her lips cracked in a long list of indefinable syllables, and then the fire flared up, almost catching her fingers. A red shine took over Kaede's eyes for a moment then faded, and she blew out the candle before leaning back and resting her weight on the pallet. If she had done everything right, which an experienced witch like her surely would, Inu-yasha and his companion would soon be finding themselves bonding very fast. They had better, or their lives were as good as over.  
  
--  
  
"Get here." The kobold thrust his hand forward, jarring Vera in the shoulder blade until she tripped into a reluctant march forward. Grunting incoherently, the disgusting creature pointed a bluish gnarled finger at a tree stump, then swung his arm around to indicate Vera. "Get here," it repeated, again gesturing towards the stump. Vera sat quickly, her visage a clear statement that she was none too happy.  
  
"Stay." Much as she resented being commanded like a mutt, Vera knew she didn't have a snowball's chance in Hell of fighting these monsters. She would just have to wait until they lost interest in her, or she found an opportunity to escape.  
  
Or maybe if that dog demon came to-  
  
Woa, wait. Where was her mind? She'd left *that* monster in the dust, no way he'd manage to catch up with-  
  
"Kill." Vera jumped and her eyes flew to her captors, but they were merely talking amongst themselves, acting as if she wasn't even there. Done already? Kobolds must be exceptionally stupid, to have such a short attention span. They began walking away, and again Vera thanked God for being so kind to her in letting her escape early. She began to rise from her perch and slink back towards the forest.  
  
Wind streaming about the arrow caused the air to sound like it was screaming, a scream cut short when the point imbedded itself thickly in the bark of a sapling. Vera sucked in a breath and turned her head hesitantly, staring at the kobold with its crossbow as if it were Satan incarnate. "Get here," the kobold demanded from somewhere inside a leg of ham, busily gobbling down its supper. The creature wasn't even looking at her! Incensed beyond belief and frightened twice as much, Vera hastily obeyed.  
  
Vera heard another thunk and turned her head to the side, expecting to see another imbedded arrow, but instead watched the disembodied head of a kobold roll about on the dirt after bouncing off an exposed root. Bile rose in her throat and Vera prepared to scream, but then the rest of the kobold hit the tree and her scream turned into a mind-splitting shriek.  
  
"You sure as Hell better not be lying," the dog demon growled as his hand disappeared into the throat of another kobold, "or you'll soon be joining them."  
  
Vera only blinked faintly in response.  
  
His cover blown, Inu-yasha found his situation suddenly much harder as all the kobolds of the entire camp jumped on him at once. There were more than he had expected, at least thirty, and all of them screaming and gnashing their canines in savage readiness for a fight. His hand whipped about and decapitated two easily, but as soon as one was down, three or four were in its place, clamping down on his limbs with their teeth or taking chunks of his flesh out with their arrows and pointed sticks. Pain saturated his every vein, but Inu-yasha was forced to ignore it, pouring every available avenue of his attention into the battle at hand. From somewhere behind him, he heard a yell, and knew the stupid chit was bursting into hysterics again. Useless, ungrateful whelp.  
  
He was just about to tear the arm off a kobold while losing a shank of skin off his own, when he felt an electric shock go through him, and the kobolds all jumped away simultaneously, startled by the current. Inu-yasha's mouth opened in preparation for a cry of pain, but instead he felt only numbness, and a slight aching in his backside. Confused, he lifted his arms and looked down at the bits of flesh missing, everything else covered in teeth marks and blood, then experimentally touched a wound and grinned when he felt nothing at all. What was going on? Was this adrenaline? Oh, hell. Whatever it was, he felt invincible. Turning to bear down on the nearest kobold with a gloating expression, he grabbed at their flesh and proceeded to wreak more carnage than ever before in his life.  
  
Meanwhile, Vera felt as if her skin had turned to ash and her back was broken in ninety places. She had run out of breath for screaming long ago, instead resorting to gasping moans and shivers as she clutched at the loose soil and blood below. The pain was unbearable, more than she had experienced ever before in her life, and she was not at all prepared to deal with even half of it. Her body seemed to collapse on itself again and again, until she was so absorbed in the pain that she was utterly unaware of everything going around her. Yet still, she could not faint. Her body only felt injured, while actually suffering nothing more than a trickle of blood from the cut on her shoulder blade and a nick or two on her knee. What was going on?  
  
After pausing just a moment for a futile attempt at thinking, Vera recovered her breath and again erupted in a long, loud wail of anguish. Her own head would have split, if there were anything left to rupture.  
  
"Will.shut up." What was that? Someone shouting.oh, Inu-yasha! Inu-yasha was telling her to.?  
  
"For Goddess' sake, I can't fight effectively with your incessant screeching! Do you *want* to die? No? Then shut the hell up!" He swung his arm around and launched two or three unconscious kobolds to the tree just behind the girl, emphasizing his point. "Honestly," .there went another two or three. "You'd think," .so much for the last crossbowman. "A girl would be thankful," .and the last kobold with a blade. "For having her life saved by someone who hates her," .but still plenty left with spears. Another heave, and Inu-yasha used his newfound battle prowess to separate four more kobolds from that precious little gem called life. This was great! He felt like the king of the world, he felt like he could do anything, he felt-  
  
He felt almost nothing. Wasn't that weird? And meantime, Vera was curling up in a ball on the floor, almost digging her own grave with her constant insane scratchings. What was her problem?  
  
What had once been thirty-odd kobolds was now less than a dozen. No, make that half a dozen. Times like this made him.well, he was always glad he was a demon, but times like this made him really appreciate his full potential. As he sent the last of the kobolds packing, it was only then that he remembered to go to Vera and check her out. Belatedly he realized he was bleeding all over her. Taking a hasty step backward, he knelt beside her and, after some deliberation, offered her a hand.  
  
Vera didn't notice. "God Almighty! Why do you torture me so?! What have I, your faithful servant, ever done to deserve this?! Why?" Her voice faded to a crack. "Why?"  
  
"What the." Now that the relative quiet of the forest gave him time to think, Inu-yasha became fully aware of just how strange the situation really was. He felt nothing, while Vera was screaming in pain? He was attacking ten monsters at a time, and yet she was the one feeling hurt. What.?  
  
"What the hell happened?" he finally said, giving voice to their shared question that begged asking. Looking down, he saw Vera's face wet with tears, and something in his gut seemed to pull at him in a strange, numb way that he was utterly unfamiliar with. "Vera?" He asked quietly.  
  
"Dog.demon." She choked as a violent shiver overtook her, then finished her sentence, ".bastard."  
  
Well, at least she was conscious enough to insult him. Inu-yasha grunted and reached forward, forcing Vera's arms to unclench and pushing her flat on her back. No sign of any serious injury, so why was she.?  
  
"You're feeling my pain!" Vera's eyes opened slowly, and she stared at Inu- yasha, the hatred fading into perplexity and exhaustion. "I have no idea how, but you're feeling my pain! Every time this happens," Inu-yasha touched a large puncture in the flesh of his left arm and watched Vera cringe in response, "you feel it. And every time this happens-" much as he loathed to hurt her even more (oh, ha ha), he stretched out a single claw and stroked down her arm hard enough that it broke the skin and blood started to ooze out. Inu-yasha felt the faintest of tinges in his own arm, but it was enough; it verified his suspicion. Somehow, sometime, their senses had switched and now she felt his pain, and visa versa.  
  
Well, there were obvious benefits to the arrangement. And obvious drawbacks. He couldn't very well get hurt without caring, for though he did not feel his pain, his body still sustained injury. He didn't feel particularly heroic about letting Vera suffer everything for him, either. Not that he had any concern at all for the worthless brat.it just.it wasn't *right*. And anyway, he never knew when the "power" would go away. It would really complicate things if his senses suddenly returned in the middle of an epic battle, especially considering how he was already getting used to feeling almost painless.  
  
Well, there were other things that needed his attention right now. He had to tend to his wounds, and if Vera's pain became his, that meant he had to keep her safe, as well. Sighing as though all the burden of the world lay on his shoulders alone, Inu-yasha rose, lifting the girl carefully before entering one of the kobold's tents and seeing about caring for both their wounds.  
  
*---*  
  
Aiyee, long. And pointless! I know. I sorry.  
  
And the pain-switching thing is overdone, too. I know. I sorry.  
  
Oh well. It'll get better, you'll see! And my friend said the battles seem out of place. Does it still seem that way? I'm trying to make it not seem that way.  
  
Oi. Splinter in my thumb. Going to go remove it now. Bye-bye!  
  
Until next chapter. 


	7. The Lady is a Tramp

Yet again, sorry for the lateness. Main reason: School has started, and it's just been leaving me so tired each day that I can barely do normal, every-day functions, let alone produce something creative *sheepish smile*. But, I wasn't feeling too, too tired today, and I think I might have gotten a decent grade (or at least a passing grade) on my Spanish test today, so that helped get me in the mood for writing.  
  
Oh, goodness. I know it's selfish about me, but I just have to impart a bit about my Spanish teacher. She's insane. It was the third day of Spanish 101 (a.k.a. the first class of Spanish, ever), and she's already given us three tests, two Monday and a slightly major one today. Gods. There's lots of fun little nuances about her, too. For instance, I found out today that if you don't title your homework/test/whatever last name first, she will throw it away and give you a zero.  
  
She also gives you a zero for the day and (if you're taking one) for the test if your cell phone or watch goes off during class. Even if it's an accident. Even if your wife is pregnant or your sister has leukemia or your grandfather's getting a liver transplant.  
  
There's lots more. But I digress. Sorry, it's mostly out of my system now. Okay, onward with the story:  
  
Disclaimer: Inu-Yasha belongs to Rumiko Takahashi, not me. Y'know, in case you were confused about that.  
  
*---*  
  
A light breeze began to stir, in response to the chill settling in with the lowering sun. Unaffected, the young demon continued to march through the thickening forestland, leaving his mortal companion to straggle (with difficulty) behind. Her breath was halted and her cheeks flushed when she gasped, "Please! Slow down!"  
  
Though he heard her immediately, Inu-yasha's responding turn was slow, calculated to give the effect of nonchalance. "What's the matter, wench? Daily exercise not part of your regime in your share of society?" His hand lifted to scratch at the cloth bandage about his torso; noticing Vera's grimace, he hastily lowered his appendage.  
  
Despite her state of being out of breath, Vera had enough energy to regard him with a vengeful scowl. "I'll have you know I went for weekly strolls around the lake, twice a week during Lent. And this discomfort isn't mine," she puffed, "it's yours."  
  
A low growl rose in his throat, as he did not like to be reminded of their situation. "Yea, whatever." Losing patience, he turned heel and stepped toward her, and without waiting for permission grabbed her about the waist, hefting her up easily. He, of course, felt nothing, but every lesion in his body seemed to pop open with this simple movement, and Vera bit her bottom lip hard enough to bleeding order to keep from crying. She probably didn't have enough moisture left in her tear ducts, anyway.  
  
"Wh-what are you doing?" she demanded, before emitting an obsequious moan and relaxing, only a slight tensing in her shins giving sign that she was not entirely pleased with the situation. Inu-yasha grunted, reminding Vera of a bulldog. Her lips quirked and she shrugged, resigned to her fate. "Where are we going, anyway?"  
  
"Southeast, of course. That's the way she said to go."  
  
Vera blinked, disbelieving he could at times speak so eloquently yet still have the single-minded-ness of a wolf. Well, he was a dog demon, after all. She sputtered, "You mean you're just blindly going in one direction? You're not going to-pardon the expression-sniff around at all?" Had he no tracking skills whatsoever? Vera certainly didn't, but common sense seemed to imply that searching involved more than just following a pointed finger. Especially if they were looking for something as small and insignificant- looking as a charm.  
  
Although Kaede had never actually said the charm was small. Maybe it was huge; maybe it was buried in dirt and looked like a mountain, though how Kaede could expect them to carry back such a large object was beyond her. Or maybe it-  
  
"You really are a sight," Inu-yasha observed suddenly, apparently ignoring her comment. "What did those kobolds do to you before I saved your sorry ass? Your hair is a mess, your skin is covered in ash, and your clothing- gods."  
  
"*I'm* a sight?!" Vera exclaimed, irritation at having her question ignored only adding emphasis to her voice. "You're missing half your arm!!"  
  
"Well, now, that's an exaggeration." Without skipping a step, he shifted her until he could stretch out an arm, pulling down the bandages a bit and eyeing the severed flesh as if studying something he found dead in the road. "Just a few scratches. Nothing lethal."  
  
"That's what you say," the girl muttered, groaning painfully when Inu-yasha experimentally licked one wound. "You're just lucky the kobolds were civilized enough (ha!) to carry around a medical pack. If it weren't for that and my clerical training, you'd probably be dead right now with gangrene!"  
  
For some reason, the demon seemed amused by her declaration. He grinned at her, showing just enough fang to make her shudder. "Don't be stupid. Demons don't get gangrene." Then his expression flickered as he remembered something, and his skin seemed to drain of color as his jaw set. "Though apparently we can get the sickness, which you were so thoughtful to bring along with you."  
  
Her face, too, grew harder, though most of her anger seemed to be directed elsewhere. "I know. I-It's not my fault, but I'm sorry."  
  
The pink of his tongue flashed as he opened his mouth to retort, but instead he shook his head, white hair shivering in every direction, and stared ahead of them. His eyes grew vague as he noticed something in the distance.  
  
Vera "oomph"-ed in surprise as he set her down suddenly, his hand going towards his belt as if he was used to carrying a weapon around. Said hand groped air, but his walk shifted into stalking mode, fingers extending and claws somehow looking longer and more dangerous than before. Vera hovered for a moment indecisively, then crossed to a large pine and slid her body behind it. Grabbing the bark with her own nails, she peered after Inu- yasha. "What do you see?"  
  
"Don't see. Smell," he growled, ears twitching in reaction to things Vera had no hope of hearing. "Humanoid. Not demon. Probably poachers."  
  
"Poachers?" Vera echoed, the concept of poachers in Inu-yasha's forest somehow inconceivable to her. Inu-yasha paused and both of them waited, until soon even Vera could hear the company approaching. And smell them. They stank of liquor and dried blood.  
  
At first it sounded as though they were coming straight towards them, but after a moment of holding her breath, Vera realized they were actually following a hacked-out trail some strides away. The poachers-all men, it seemed, which didn't surprise her-would have obliviously passed her without event, if they had been left undisturbed.  
  
Vera heard rustling from her other side and turned, expecting to see Inu- yasha about to pounce, but to her utter horror and surprise, instead saw a tall, arrogantly aired youth with long black hair descending quietly upon the trespassers. And what was more, the youth was not in an opposing stance, but almost a welcoming one, as if he delighted in meeting illegal hunters, alone in the forest. Vera's eyes widened and she hid herself further behind the tree, but the youth paid her no mind, either unperceptive of or ignoring her. Was he one of them?  
  
"Ho, there," someone called, causing the others to choke in surprise. Vera stared forward, and saw that it had been a poacher who had called first. The youth seemed unperturbed; perhaps he had made his presence obvious intentionally.  
  
"Ho," the youth returned in a passive voice. That tone-it was familiar, but more guttural and definitely more human. Inu--? She almost swallowed her own tongue in shock. Of course! Kaede had told her Inu-yasha was the King of England; surely he had a human form so he could interact with his subjects without raising alarm. Suddenly relaxed in her understanding of the circumstances , she was almost smug in her assurance of the poacher's impending doom. She turned to the scene with a much keener eye.  
  
"A boy! What are you doing out here, laddie? Don't want to get et up by wolverines now, der ye's?" The foremost poacher, medium-sized and nondescript other than having a rather wide face, barked out in a voice akin to the baying of an injured stag. His laugh was even coarser: uproariously loud, and sounding forced due to the wheezing that accompanied each "HAW!" His companions, like lesser dogs, joined in. All three regarded Inu-yasha condescendingly.  
  
Inu-yasha began to sneer, but quickly dampened the mien. "A good day to you, sirs. Am I right in thinking you are heading after the price on the Witchiwa's head?"  
  
Confusion covered the faces of the poachers (which turned the healed scars of two of them into virtual crevasses). "The witch-what? What are you talking about, boy? Not quite there, are you?" He grinned and lifted a fist, about to knock the youth on the head but reconsidering when Inu-yasha fixed him with a death glare (one that had sent men with weaker wills running). Inu-yasha brushed invisible gnats from his hair and turned his eye from poacher to poacher, lowering his gravely voice ominously as he spoke.  
  
"The Witchiwa is a fearsome beast, once peaceful but lately it's taken to ravaging the countryside. It has the hands and feet of a man, but everything else is demonic and covered with scales like a snake's. It has fangs the length of my forearm, and its spittle is said to be poisonous." His speech finished, Inu-yasha lifted his chin, waiting for his words to take full effect. Being simple crooks, the poachers heard the word "beast" and pride turned their eyes glassy. The leader grinned.  
  
"Oh, ye's got a pesky demon ye's needs us to take care of? Worry not ye furry head, laddie. We'll take the ol' spawn o' Satan out, no worries." Bellowing in his raucous laugh, the man turned, and began traipsing the way Inu-yasha indicated. His companions followed, only slightly less reluctant and one of them turning a distrustful eye to the youth before moving on. Inu-yasha stood motionless, watching them go. When at last they were out of sight and hearing (for Vera, anyway), the girl stepped from behind her tree and approached him.  
  
"Where did you send them?" she asked, trying not to shudder as Inu-yasha's human features melted away like wax and were replaced by his demonic attributes. Most startling of all were his eyes, as they diffused from brown to amber, round to cat-like. His ears, as well, were disquieting, first losing their shape then traveling in a lump to the top, where they flattened out and sprouted white fur. Most disquieting indeed.  
  
The demon smiled, fangs in full display. "To the Witchiwa." The whisk of his hair whipped her in the face as he abruptly turned and started marching southeast again. Vera stared after, face a study in bafflement.  
  
After a moment or two of stupidly standing, Vera began to run and hurried to catch up with him. The exertion caused a slight tightening in her chest (not pain, which Inu-yasha would have felt), but the aching was getting duller, and easier to accept. No, not just that...it was going away; Inu- yasha was healing. Very fast.  
  
"I don't understand." A root appeared out of nowhere and tripped her. Vera jumped forward on one foot until she could regain her balance. "You mean that thing is real?"  
  
"Of course it's real. Do I look like a liar?"  
  
"Well, actually..." A smart insult was already forming in her mind, but ultimately Vera decided another fest of derisions was not going to make things flow any smoother. Instead, she established a gait for herself, one that still kept her breathless but allowed her to stay beside him moderately well. She had no idea where they were headed, other than in a cardinal direction, and she hoped they didn't stumble blindly into any trouble. Oh well. Whatever happened, Inu-yasha was sure to protect her. If only to keep his own threshold for pain at bay.  
  
Oi, gods. This curse, or whatever it was. A blessing or a bane? It was too soon for Vera to tell.  
  
--  
  
For dinner, they had rabbit, straight off the bones. Vera had started a fire (with difficulty and many attempts), finally accepting a slab of steel and flint from Inu-yasha and using that instead of the prehistoric method of rubbing two sticks together really fast. After making sure the fire wasn't going to piddle out seconds after it ignited, Inu-yasha disappeared into the forest, charging Vera with making sure the wind ("What wind?") didn't relieve them of their warmth. Then he returned only a dozen minutes or so later, bearing two rabbits, already skinned, which Vera wordlessly puzzled over but accepted and set over the flame. She knew very little about camping out, but what she did know, she had learned from her outdoors- inclined grandfather, so they were sound skills to have.  
  
In any case, they talked idly while the stringy meat was purified of germs (Vera did most of the talking; Inu-yasha seemed too tired to do more than grunt), then ate, and went to bed. Both had been too hasty and shortsighted to bring sleeping supplies with them, though Inu-yasha seemed perfectly fine leaned up against a tree. Vera, her skin far more delicate, deigned to clear a patch of dirt from pine needles and lay on that. It was hard and cold, but at least she was so tired that she hardly noticed. Of course most of the discomfort transferred to Inu-yasha, but that, too, escaped her attention.  
  
When her mind faded and she entered the dreary monotony of slumber, shades began to haunt her vision and dark dreams made her tremble.  
  
In the morning, Inu-yasha stirred just after dawn, barely sparing time to piss behind a tree before poking Vera awake. Used to sleeping late most days, Vera greeted him with a furious yell and a jaw-popping yawn, but when Inu-yasha started pulling on her hair she relinquished and started following behind him.  
  
Soon they settled back into the routine of walking, and Vera was too absentminded to acknowledge when Inu-yasha abruptly came to a halt without warning. She slammed into the back of him, automatically grabbing at his garments and trying to regather her senses. "Uhh..." she drawled, looking up then around him to find the reason for his stopping.  
  
A tall woman, skin the color and texture of ivory and with unbelievably long hair to boot, leaned against a tree ahead of them. Her eyes were hollow, colorless, and her slim, feminine fingers ended in blackened claws. Vera shuddered. What witchery was this?  
  
"Good afternoon, dog demon, or shall I call you Inu-yasha, Lord of England? Nice little patch of woods you have here. Of course, it's a mere gathering of stumps, compared to my jungle in the East..." she continued, waving her hands animatedly like an Italian as she went on without introduction or incitement to speak. Inu-yasha only stared at her, brows lowered and eyes deceptively calm. Vera, distracted by her waving limbs, stared at the woman's appendages, and noticed after a moment that she was holding something in her right palm. During a rare and momentary lapse in speech, her hands stilled, and Vera saw that it was a tiny ivory comb, matching the rest of her silken outfit and skin perfectly. Vera's eyes lifted, and she shuddered. The woman was smiling directly at her.  
  
"A girl? Well, Inu-yasha. I never would have taken you for the type to prefer mortal chits over our kind. Well, no matter," she set her feet wide apart and suddenly pointed at the young man with the comb. "You will duel with me, Inu-yasha. Now."  
  
He snorted, smirking, even as he pushed Vera behind him and stretched his own claws outward. "What if I say no?"  
  
"Then, my dear," said the woman, answering his smirk with her own honeyed flash of fangs. "Then, I will kill the girl, and the rest of your subjects, until you change your mind."  
  
Her hands nervously clutching his shoulders, Vera almost felt the change in temperature as his blood ran cold. Sparing a glance upward, she saw Inu- yasha's ears flattened against his skull. How...odd his dog ears were.  
  
"Fine. I'll fight you." Vera gasped breathlessly when he shoved her into the foliage.  
  
The demon woman smiled. "Delicious." A glimmer momentarily blinded them, as her tiny comb expanded and became big enough to tackle even Inu-yasha's length of hair. "Let us begin."  
  
*---*  
  
Next episode: The shikon jewel appears!! (under a different name, of course...) And gets broken! Ooh Noo! Stay tuned next week, kids!  
  
Anyone ever wondered why Inu-yasha has eyes like a cat? Dogs have round eyes, like us humans. They do. Look. And only little cats have vertical pupils. Big cats have round ones, too. I guess round ones are handy like that.  
  
A lot of people think Inu-yasha's ears look like they belong to a feline. I don't. They make me think of a husky, or maybe a toy Pomeranian. Hehehe.... I am reminded of something my friend said once... "I wonder if his hair is white." No, not that hair. *That* hair. Heheheheheheh.  
  
O-kay then. Didn't mean to scare you off, there. I'm not sure if school is going to get harder or easier as the semester progresses, but I promise you, as soon as I have time and energy again, I'll update. If not this story (thought it will probably be this story), then another one. I'll try not to start any new ones before next summer. :p  
  
Anyway. Thanks for reading. Feel free to R&R, even if only to tell me I still have *some* readers hanging in there. :p Alright. I'm babbling! Bye.  
  
Until next chapter. 


	8. Men Are From Mars, Women Are From Venus,...

Wee! A new chapter! Even though I've been told the characters are too out of character for this story to be worth reading, I was also told to continue writing until its completion. So, confused though I may be, ere I go...  
  
Disclaimer: Inu-yasha belongs to Rumiko Takahashi. End of story.  
  
*---*  
  
He blinked, then snorted. "What in Hell."  
  
From behind her vantage point in the bushes, Vera watched the fair woman return the demon's rude gesture with an airy lift and falling of her shoulders. Yes, she was definitely from the Italian states, or Helvetia at the very least. Simpleton, coming from a culture that lived off the remains of a deceased empire, good for nothing and worth even less...unnoticed in the brush as she was, Vera spared herself a superior smile. Let the demon deal with the insolent halfwit as he was meant to (after all, she was hardly better than a savage).  
  
Inu-yasha stepped forward, undaunted by the woman's indifference. After all, it was probably little more than a front, a façade meant to lower his resolve. Inu-yasha grinned and clenched his teeth, pulling his lip back just enough to show the edges of his elongated canines. "Methinks the lady doth want to fight," he mocked silently to the world in general. "Well, then. I shant keep her waiting."  
  
She avoided his initial swing with a fluid swivel of her pelvis and flicked her fan along his exposed backside, tearing through the ravaged leather of his jerkin and halfway through the woolen undershirt with invisible blades. Blinking and with mouth parted in surprise, the demon whirled and tripped over his own feet, so aghast at this successful attack was he. She took advantage immediately, striking down with her comb and searing him along the spine with the same undetectable knives. Inu-yasha clutched his abdomen and fell to his knees, bending like a withered weed in the sun. Behind him, Vera screamed.  
  
For the first time since their acquaintance, the villain was taken aback. She paused in her smiting, pirouetting and regarding the girl with a half- lidded expression that exuded mild curiosity and dominance. Vera, too, wilted.  
  
"What manner of creature are you?" she mumbled, gesturing lightly with the comb until Vera was suspended in mid-air by cords weaved of wind and moisture. Limp hands held away from her body by the cords, Vera turned her malaise-stricken glower to the demon and stared with a ferocity born to only the privileged and proud to be so. The woman returned the glare exactly.  
  
"A mortal." The inflection in her voice faded, as if Vera wasn't worth the effort of mentioning in her musical lilt. "How drear." All at once her eyes flitted back to the demon kneeling crumpled on the ground, grabbing at his lower back ineffectually as he bled profusely all over the forest undergrowth. Her smile was sinister.  
  
"Inu-yasha..." Vera muttered, then, louder; "Inu-yasha!"  
  
Affected by shock though he was, the demon turned at her voice. Seeing her stranded in the air, the demon woman about to drop her the five or so feet to the ground without a thought, a strange kind of emotion flickered across his face and he rose, apparently now oblivious to his injuries. The demon woman nodded approvingly.  
  
"I was hoping you weren't so weak," she whispered, then launched herself at him.  
  
This time, he had the wit to expect her. Inu-yasha braced his legs instinctively, but instead of taking flight to avoid her body slam, he ran headfirst into her, knocking her both windless and utterly nonplused. The gasp that somehow escaped her was quick and guttural, a sign that he had gotten her where it hurt. Inu-yasha smiled grimly, knowing his victory was a small one.  
  
"Audacious wretch!" Her voice, ere theatrical and meant to impress, was now as frayed and vicious as a wolverine's snarl. Somehow, it suited her more. She whipped her arm about like a cobra and attempted to strike him with her comb; his arm shot out, catching the edge of it in his forearm. Vera winced, just as Inu-yasha twisted his own arm about hers and tried to wrest the comb from her grasp. She held onto it as though it were an extension of her soul.  
  
It was then that Vera's vision began to clear, the pain still an ever- present force but becoming muted as she adjusted to its consistency. Still slightly lethargic from the shock, she peered about the entire scene, seeing things that the defending demon did not. Lines, thin and dark and with ends waving in the wind, just like...  
  
Carefully, languorously, her eyes traced up the cables and cords to their source, passing through the demon's comb and into a satchel under her tunic. Hair. She was manipulating hair.  
  
Well, what else would she be doing with a comb?  
  
"Inu-yasha!" Vera exclaimed suddenly, startling him in the midst of his struggle. He blinked at her, the only sign of his acknowledgement that she had inveighed upon him. "The cords-"  
  
"What cords?!" he shouted immediately, grunting when he noticed the trickle of blood the demon's claws has prompted through new holes in his palm. He was losing far too much of his vital fluids, even if he wasn't feeling the repercussions. Yet.  
  
Vera muttered an exasperated curse, somewhere finding the bravery for derision even in their dire predicament. Inu-yasha had already gone back to scratching at the woman's face and arms with his own talons. "The ones coming from the comb," she muttered, doubting he even heard her.  
  
Apparently he did, because as soon as she spoke, his eyes shot to the tool and he grabbed at it with renewed effort. However, the demon had discovered a gap in his defense, and she struck him in the area between his legs with her knee. Vera squawked appropriately.  
  
Inu-yasha, however, only smiled. "I apologize. Where you expecting that to hurt me?" He grabbed her arm again and pulled it forward before wrenching it sideways, popping the bone neatly out of its socket. The woman, who had no such displacement of pain, screamed in such agony that Vera clutched her ears with her hands and her eyes shut, though she remained tangled in the strands.  
  
He, however, was not finished. Lifting his left foot and placing it upon her abdomen, just below her breasts, he used his other hand to grab her shoulder. A sudden wrench, and her arm became more than disjointed. The soft 'squiking' of flesh signaled as it failed to adhere to itself. Her already ragged shriek grew breathless.  
  
Inu-yasha stepped away, expecting his job to be finished. The arm made a reflexive grabbing motion as he released it and it hit the spongy mosses of the ground. When he turned, the woman was staring at him with eyes grown scarlet with hatred.  
  
Inu-yasha backed away, but she was already thrashing at him, the comb somehow locked in her other hand and striking him across the face with quick, lancing cuts. The youth felt a root behind his heels and jumped automatically, but another root was right behind it and he fell nonetheless. The woman pounced atop him like something possessed by the fabled Prince Himself. Inu-yasha winced, expecting the worst.  
  
"Let him go."  
  
The voice, so laden with repugnance and umbrage, was foreign to him, and so at first he disregarded it. The cougar atop him, however, recognized the voice as a possible threat, and so turned towards it. Inu-yasha almost exclaimed in surprise when the demon suddenly barked out an insolent laugh.  
  
"I've had enough of you, chit. Die!" A simple wave of her fan, and the cords that streamed forth became so thick that even Inu-yasha could detect the way they affected the surrounding air. Vera shouted, struggling in her bonds with all her power, but the cord was upon her all at once, wrapping about her torso like a living vice. Except, it did not remain so for long. Sensing the hair's location more with intuition than anything else, Inu- yasha brought his blood-stained claws down upon it, meeting only weak resistance before the preternatural material shredded, growing limp and for a second falling. Then again it was shooting forth, only this time it encased Inu-yasha with a silky translucent thread that paralyzed him and rendered him involuntarily prone. Inu-yasha's eyes, horror and anger- filled, turned to the demon.  
  
"Since you seem so affected by this mortal, I will have you watch as I kill her," she explained as the twine roped about him like a cocoon. Working with supernatural efficiency, he was soon totally immobile, sheathed in silky tresses. A furious growl rose in his throat, but she chuckled. "Patience, puppy. I was going to make this swift, but now the thought has come to me that I should like to take my time with such things."  
  
"No..." Vera uttered, her emotions a mess of defiance and fear. The demon shook her head, unconsciously negating her words.  
  
"Indeed I am, raven-haired chicklet. Observe." And the threads that poured forth from her satchel and through her comb, poured like water or wind, were curled and burning with green fire. Even from where she hung, Vera could feel the heat, smoldering and uncomfortable as a day indoors in July. Unbidden, Vera felt a lump forming in her throat and her eyes had begun to water.  
  
"Hmm. Where shall I start? The throat?" She gestured, and the smooth locks floated towards Vera's upper torso, stroking the void between her head and shoulders like lapping waves. Vera sucked in her breath and flinched as a lick of flame singed the lobe of her right ear. The demon shook her head, and the hair once more retreated. "No. Too quick. Well, then." Though she whipped her legs about frantically, the binding hairs kept Vera for the most part stationary, and susceptible to the emerald miasma. Inu-yasha watched with empty eyes, unable to help a soul.  
  
Perhaps losing patience, the demon flexed her wrist and the flame locked about her legs, burning clear through to the muscle beneath. From inside his cell, the young demon choked, blood rushing to the areas on his limbs where his body thought he was injured. Vera, too, whimpered, more for his sake than her own.  
  
As soon as one of the cords touched bone, though, there was a sheer light and the hair melted, dripping to the ground like chunks of spoiled cream. The demon woman stared, aghast as the rest of them, as the light condensed about the wound into the form of a tiny ball, no bigger than a pebble though perfectly round. Vera's eyes, too, were wide, but filled not entirely with something other than amazement. Suddenly free of her bounds, she reached down, closing her fingers about the object and bringing it to her chest with methodical grace. Her large brown eyes met the demon's, and the latter shown, for the first time, terror. Vera reached forward and stroked the demon on her cheek; like her hair, the pallid skin dissolved and drooped away, revealing muscle sinew and bone almost identical to a mortal's. The demon shuddered and began to dart away, before Vera's hand slid down and grasped her by the throat. That, too, disappeared.  
  
The head thunked as it hit the ground, but Vera was surprised to see the eyes still following her every move. The lips, now missing half their tissue, twisted in a desperate sneer. "You'll never kill me," the demon's head cackled somewhat breathlessly, as the body swiped at Vera with the comb. Unprepared, Vera felt the edge sink into her shoulder with an odd sensation, just as Inu-yasha again choked on the pain.  
  
"I don't think so." And Vera's next move, her final move, both grabbed the comb away from the woman and split it with a resounding crack. The two pieces began to drop down in time with the body, but both dissolved before hitting the ground, along with the head and discarded appendage. The demon's scream reverberated in their heads and minds, the only remnant of the demon's existence besides her clothing and satchel. The hair, too, remained, though it was now as lifeless as the corpses it came from. Vera lifted the lip of the bag, peering inside and grimacing. Instead of reaching in, she turned the sack over and let the objects within topple out onto the undergrowth. Skulls, four or five of them, all fleshless and naked except for their hair. It was that hair that still kept Inu-yasha bound, whom Vera discovered when she turned round.  
  
"Inu-yasha!" She stepped forward quickly, touching the cocoon with her shining hands and catching Inu-yasha as he stumbled through the hole. Inu- yasha was staring at her feet and her gaze followed, growing round when she saw the bleeding and ragged wound about each shin, one deeper than the other. "Oh," she said simply, and bent down, touching one cut investigatively. Inu-yasha hissed and bit his tongue.  
  
"No wonder." Even though his pain was hers, and hers, his, Vera carefully laid the youth upon the oak leaves and wild grasses with the gentleness of a mother, though Inu-yasha protested avidly with his tongue. "Shut up, fool. I'm not painless either, you know." At this he fell silent.  
  
"Well," she mused, surveying the desolate scene with a disparaging eye. "What a mess." Indeed, little remained of the demon, not even her blood, but Vera's and Inu-yasha's own blood littered every rock and trunk like brackish dried rainwater. Vera pinched her face up, and lost her sagacious countenance. "What now?"  
  
"Now," Inu-yasha grunted, forcing himself on his elbows and trying to stare at Vera commandingly (and failing, due to his lingering astonishment). "Now, we go back to Kaede."  
  
"What?" Vera looked at him, genuinely surprised. "We do? But what about-"  
  
"We already found it," Inu-yasha snapped. At her continued look of puzzlement, he sighed and nodded towards her. "In your hand."  
  
Somehow managing the impossible and looking at the ball as if seeing it for the first time, Vera sucked in a breath and bit her bottom lip. "Then, that's what this...?"  
  
"Yes." Stupid mortal. What had she been expecting, something shaped like a human heart? Or maybe a jewel as large as her head...  
  
"Oh." Vera shrugged. "Alright."  
  
"Alright," Inu-yasha echoed, staring at her in disbelief. What in all the Hells had come over her, and how had it left her in such unawares? His hair shuddered as he shook his head. Whatever.  
  
"Alright," she said one final time, then flashed him a smile so bright and self-pleased that for a moment the young demon was dazzled, and he stared unconsciously, not knowing that his eyes were large or his aquiline brows raised. What a strange...  
  
And then she was up and moving, walking away from the battlefield and back along the hacked-out path they had made, as if nothing important had occurred at all. Inu-yasha watched after her, dumbfounded, eyes flickering from wound to wound to the straight line of her back as she traipsed through the foliage like some little buccaneer on a mission. Were all humans this strange and he just never had the opportunity or desire to discern thus, or was she uniquely crazy? Whether it was his luck or bane, he was in for it now, and there was no telling what trouble the featherbrain would get into if he left her alone. Hastily, he pushed his battered body off the ground and took off in a rush after her.  
  
*---*  
  
Yay! A really long battle scene! I tried to make it sound linear and interesting, I really did...well? Did I succeed? Did I fail? Please tell me...I promise not to complain if you criticize, I can't say I enjoy criticism but I know I'll never improve if I don't determine what I'm doing wrong first. So feel free, go ahead and pick apart my story...just explain why, please, so I can fix it. Thanks ^-^  
  
I know I said I was going to break the gem in this chapter, but it was getting long and it's 1:00 am right now, sleepy. -_- So I'll go upload this and then you nice people will R&R! At least, I hope you will....  
  
Until next chapter. 


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